Fitur 2026 will be remembered as one of its saddest editions. The international tourism fair, held in Madrid for over 40 years, opened this Wednesday under a somber atmosphere. Mid-morning, a minute of silence in memory of the victims of the tragic train accident in Adamuz, Córdoba, left the Ifema fairgrounds in silence. From the Turespaña stand, adorned with black ribbons, the Minister of Industry and Tourism, Jordi Hereu, led the tribute. His will be one of the few institutional presences among the 12 pavilions hosting the world's largest tourism fair, which, at least for these days, will be open from today until January 25th. At the Catalonia stand, the minute of silence also included a strong remembrance of the train driver who died Tuesday night in the derailment of a commuter train to Gelida.

It seems the crackdown on tourist apartments is beginning to bear fruit. Exceltur, the leading tourism sector association in Spain, has observed a slowdown in this type of accommodation in the 25 Spanish cities most affected by tourism, including Barcelona. Specifically, they estimate a drop of 15,963 tourist apartment beds marketed on various platforms in 2025 compared to the previous year (Exceltur compares the peak season period), representing a 4.1% decrease. Last year ended with 366,000 tourist accommodation beds, according to the association.

Bus and coach companies that transport tourists to Barcelona refuse to relinquish their right to operate right into the heart of the city. And this Tuesday morning, they made their position abundantly clear to the Collboni administration. The sector has expressed its outright rejection of the new Bus Zone 4.0 being designed by the City Council, which aims to reorganize and restrict the flow of tourist coaches in the center of the Catalan capital. Several companies and associations took advantage of the sector's fifth annual meeting, organized by the employers' association FECAV, to voice their discontent with this measure, promoted by the Tourism Department, which directly impacts mobility. "Unfair," "unrealistic," and "impoverishing": this is how professionals have described this initiative, which has already begun to reorganize the space, stops, and methods by which this sector can enter and circulate within the Catalan capital to transport its clients to the city's main points of interest. Among other measures, the Bus Zone 4.0 aims to eliminate bus stops in the city center, limit their operating hours, and require coach companies to take reservations to prevent the accumulation of vehicles and tourists in any one area. "The sector is suffering and things are getting worse; but we still have hope that it can be drastically reformed," declared Miquel Àngel Díez, vice president of the Professional Association of Tourist Guides of Catalonia. Díez made this statement in response to the City Council representative, Lídia Torres, Director of Mobility Services for Barcelona, ​​who, in her turn to speak, asserted that "the city is finite and needs order, and the model we had until now no longer works." "We have tourist coaches driving around without any organization," Torres declared before nearly 200 professionals from the coach sector. The head of municipal Mobility also insisted that change is necessary: ​​"A new urban model is needed." "We don't want to restrict, but rather reorganize, and both residents and tourists will appreciate that," Torres tried to explain, although that didn't reassure the attendees, who maintain that there are still "too many uncertainties" about this new model.

Tourism phobia? To the expats? To immigrants? There are polite and respectful tourists (you do your own sightseeing, right?), expats with a desire to integrate (surely they have a relative living abroad) and immigrants without whom we wouldn't leave (who cares for dependent relatives?). Fear and/or phobia abroad, in general, is a dead end. It harbors hatred of difference. Structural problems—housing, insecurity, poverty, strain on social services, etc.—are one thing, and people are quite another. If instead of looking at collectives, we focus on specific individuals—neighbors, friends, coworkers, shopkeepers, acquaintances, or those we greet—our perception becomes humanized. The other person becomes a familiar face.

The heat is exploding, and with it, one of the most pathetic phenomena of contemporary summer: criticizing those who criticize tourism during the year when their vacation time arrives and they are, in fact, actually doing tourism. It's such a blatant spectacle that it's hard to watch it without blushing: profiles circulating on social media photos of other individuals peacefully relaxing on the beach, supposedly grown-ups turned into spies. Naturally, this spectacle only betrays the concern of certain systemic forces regarding the possibility that a genuine awareness is taking place. After decades of enjoying unquestioned cultural prestige, a correct analysis has begun to spread of the ravages that a tourism model based on the importation of cheap labor has brought to our lives, from low productivity that becomes a covert subsidy for entrepreneurs to the plundering of scarce resources and the political potential of the city, breaking ties between neighbors. The criticism of tourism is so fair and accurate that it's spreading like an oil slick.

The neighbors of the Barcelona neighborhood who had the misfortune of appearing on Instagram, thanks to the influencers Overmotivated, they have to fight their way through the tourist crowd to get on the bus and go back home. To confuse non-natives, the City Council had the brilliant idea of removing the bus shelter from the bus stop. I would have added some actors dressed as pickpockets and the driver pretending to be drunk.

International tourists detained at US borders. High tariffs imposed on trading partners. Threats to allies.

That tourism has returned to Barcelona after the pandemic is evident; you only have to go out on the street to see it. But now data from the Spanish Institute of Statistics (INE) confirms it. The Catalan capital's hotel occupancy rate in May was the highest in Spain. Despite the great recovery, however, most indicators are still slightly below May 2019, the year before the arrival of covid-19.