“Tourists Go Home!”: Barcelonian Residents Seek to Deter Tourists from Overrunning City

On Saturday, July 6, 2024, multiple local organisations in Barcelona, Spain mounted a protest to express their dissatisfaction with the degree to which overtourism in the city had resulted in unaffordable housing, congestion in public services, and the “touristification” of local businesses.

Students are asked to take on the role of Jaume Collboni, the Mayor of Barcelona City. In the wake of the protests, Collboni calls for an emergency conference, where he tells his colleagues from the city council and the tourism office that the protests cannot be allowed to continue, but meets objections from these colleagues.

This case is intended for use in an undergraduate integrative studies course on economics. Students who have successfully examined the case should be able to achieve the following learning objectives: identify the factors that contribute to overtourism, examine how overtourism gives rise to externalities, propose possible responses to address the challenges associated with tourism growth, and explore likely positive externalities that could result from tourism.

Inspection copies and teaching notes are available for university faculty. To receive an inspection copy and teaching note, please email cmpshop@smu.edu.sg with your registered faculty email ID and a link to your contact information on the faculty directory at your university as verification. An inspection copy and teaching note will then be sent to your faculty email account.

Download information

SMU Faculty/Staff can download the case & teaching note on iNet with your SMU login ID & Password via the following links:

·      The Case (SMU-25-0023)

·      Teaching Note (SMU-25-0023TN)

For purchase of the case and supplementary materials via The Case Centre, please access the following links:

·      The Case (SMU-25-0023)

·      Teaching Note (SMU-25-0023)

For purchase of the case and supplementary materials via Harvard Business Publishing, please access the following links:

·      The Case (SMU-25-0023)

·      Teaching Note (SMU-25-0023)