Anti-foreigner sentiment in Girona

While many locals are welcoming, Girona has growing tensions about the increase in foreigners.

Anti-tourist sentiment

Girona is a popular city for tourists. However, there is friction between tourists and locals.

Large tour groups often block the streets, especially in narrow places like the Barri Vell and the Eiffel bridge.

Tourist apartments

The number of tourism apartments in Girona has been growing. Locals are angry because tourist apartments reduce the number of apartments for locals to live in. In 2024, 15% of apartments in the Barri Vell and Mercadal were tourist apartments.

One of the council’s first actions (a coalition of Guanyem, Junts, and ERC) when it was elected in 2023 was to limit tourist-use housing (HUT) to 4% citywide.

In 2024, locals and associations formed a new group called Plataforma pel decreixement ("platform for degrowth"), with the aim of reducing tourism and the number of expats in Girona. Instagram: @menysturismegirona

Més Barri, Menys Pisos Turístics (stylized as +Barri -Pisos turístics) is a campaign against the growing number of tourist apartments.

Anti-cyclist sentiment

Stickers stuck to a lamp post

Girona is a hub for cyclists. The cycling trend started in 2001, when Lance Armstrong made Girona his cycling base. Since then, the cycling industry in Girona has boomed, with new cycling shops and cafes opening every year.

However, not everyone in Girona is happy about Girona's success as a cycling destination. In an online poll at diaridegirona 47% people believed that cycling tourism does not benefit the city. Locals are annoyed by cyclists speeding past on their bikes and for opening so many cycling shops and cafes, like Eat Sleep Cycle and Hors Categorie. Most cycling shops are in the city's beloved Barri Vell. Coexistence between pedestrians and cyclists is complicated in the narrow streets.

People have begun pushing back against cycling. The Ajuntament have erected signs in the Barri Vell telling cyclists to dismount. In September 2024, local police started a new enforcement plan, issuing fines to bicycle violations, such as riding on sidewalks and going against traffic. 206 fines were issued in the first month.

In 2026, the main political party in power, Guanyem, intended temporarily suspend the opening licenses for new cycle tourism businesses in the Barri Vell and Mercadal.

Arran video on Twitter on 27 September 2024

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Video published on Arran's Twitter account on 27 September 2024

In 2025, the former Odeon Theatre reopened as a cycling shop called Velodrom, which upset some locals who saw cycling as replacing sites of culture. During the refurbishment, Arran Girona (a pro-independence leftist youth organization) uploaded a video where they spray-painted slogans like "Aqui no es venen bicis, aqui es mata el barri" (here they don’t sell bikes, here they kill the neighborhood" and "A luxe pel guiri" onto the walls outside the theatre, to draw attention to the growing gentrification of Girona by expats..

In the video, an off-screen voice says:

"Aquí no es venen bicis, aquí es mata el barri. Perquè és un exemple més de com Girona va mutant per promoure el negoci, el luxe pel turisme, la imatge que interessa per vendre la ciutat sense importar qui cau pel camí. On hi havia un teatre hi veuen una inversió, on hi havia cultura hi veuen negoci, on hi havia un barri hi veuen una postal. I és que no és només un altre turista, un altre negoci, un altre Airbnb, és la precarietat que va calant, que s'apropi dels carrers i els buida i que entra dins de casa de la mà del pànic a no poder pagar un lloguer que no sabem si pararà de pujar. Va de la mà del pensament i la frustració, quan després de la feina tornem a casa recordant-nos que el barri no hi ha cap comerç on puguem ni vulguem pagar un cafè. I mica en mica l'impotència es torna costum, quan les amigues han de deixar el pis i ens queda més clar que som nosaltres que no hàgim vingut al barri. També mica en mica entenem que no tenim per què pagar nosaltres que es faci que la gent s'hagi de fer vida. Que no hem decidit la nostra dignitat pel luxe d'uns quants. Que les joves, estudiants, treballadores, literaturitzades, expertades, són part del barri. I que decidides, combatives i organitzades ens toca defensar la vida per ser un capital."

"Here, they don’t sell bikes — they kill the neighborhood. Because this is yet another example of how Girona keeps changing to promote business, luxury for tourism, and the image that helps sell the city, without caring who gets left behind. Where there was once a theatre, they see an investment; where there was culture, they see business; where there was a neighborhood, they see a postcard. And it’s not just another tourist, another business, another Airbnb — it’s the growing precariousness that seeps in, taking over the streets and emptying them, creeping into our homes hand in hand with the fear of not being able to pay a rent that we don’t know if it will ever stop rising. It comes with the thoughts and frustration, when after work we come home and realize there’s no place left in the neighborhood where we can or even want to pay for a coffee. And little by little, helplessness becomes routine — when friends have to leave their flats, it becomes clearer that we’re the ones who no longer belong here. Little by little, too, we understand that we shouldn’t have to pay the price for a system that forces people out of their lives. That we haven’t chosen to sacrifice our dignity for the luxury of a few. That young people, students, workers, educated and experienced, are part of the neighborhood. And that, determined, combative, and organized, it’s up to us to defend life from becoming just another form of capital."

Anti-expat sentiment

• Remote-working expats, who are mainly Europeans. They often have high salaries relatively to the salaries of locals in Girona, which means they can rent properties locals can't afford. Some open expensive coffee shops that locals can't afford. Many call themselves "expats" to differentiate themselves from immigrants from poorer countries.
• Rich retired Americans who came to Girona with Spain's golden visa, which gave residency permits to non-EU people if they bought at least €500,000 of property here. Spain scrapped the visa in 2025 because so many foreign rich people were coming that they were pushing up the housing prices.

Africa and the Middle-east

To a lesser extent in Girona, there is anti-foreigner sentiment towards immigrants from nearby Morocco, and middle-Eastern countries like Syria, Afghanistan, Iran, and Albania.

Spain and other Spanish-speaking countries

People from Spanish-speaking countries like countries in South America, who don't integrate and don't learn Catalan, which creates friction in a region where the local language (Catalan) is being eroded by Spanish and English.

Others

Anti-Halloween sticker