Some remote workers in Spain say they feel uncomfortable speaking English in public.
Anti-tourist activism has steadily built momentum in Spain this year. It’s ranged from large-scale protests in major cities like Madrid and Málaga, to more subtle actions like anti-tourist graffiti peppering Spain’s inner-cities and coffee shops banning digital nomads from hogging tables with their laptops.
In some places, however, things have taken a slightly more unsettling turn. In the southern city of Seville Airbnb lockboxes were recently allegedly covered in dog poo, and in Barcelona tourists were sprayed with water pistols and told to leave the city.
For digital nomads and remote workers wanting to make Spain home, this presents some food for thought.
“It’s a diversion. Like they need to create an enemy for the problem,” says Ron, a Valencia-based digital nomad.
The 40-year-old recently moved from the Philippines with his wife Jane and their young daughter. He feels that aspects of the protests, while completely understandable, are misdirected.
“They don’t want to direct it at the government,” he tells Euronews Travel, “so they direct it at someone who won’t be able to do anything about it, direct it towards a tourist,” because they are easier targets.
‘It’s not only anti-tourist, it’s anti-outsider’
Americans Nicole, 32, and Jasper, 30, recently spent a couple of months working from Barcelona. “The individual tourists themselves have no power to transform Barcelona into the city its residents wish for,” Nicole says.
Jasper adds that based on his experience in the Catalan capital, “It’s clear that it’s not only anti-tourist, it’s anti-outsider. Which is xenophobic.”
Some digital nomads are conscious of the frustrations in Spanish society and trying to understand their place in it. Ukrainian national Alexander, 33, tells Euronews Travel that these sorts of uneasy undertones, while real, are incredibly rare. “I faced that only once,” he says. “When I wanted to print some documents at the copy centre, the seller was staring at me like a stranger with contempt.
“But I’m okay with that because I speak Spanish really badly,” he adds. “And this is my fault, not a problem of Spaniards.”
Online, some report unease at speaking English or their native tongue in public. “We were definitely conscious of speaking English in public, even amongst ourselves,” Jasper says.
Friends have even asked Ron and Jane if Barcelona is safe for foreigners. “I’m not sure if it was a joke, but they were asking, should we move out of Barcelona?” he says. “They’re asking us, is it safe in your place? How is it in that area?”
Locals’ concerns are broadly the same wherever they are, whether it be Barcelona or the Balearic Islands. Tourism itself isn’t a problem, but rather that the mass-tourism model has grown out of control, which in turn inflates the rental market and turns old towns into tourist ‘theme parks’. It has been exacerbated by a rise in remote working following the pandemic.
The world’s third most popular digital nomad destination
According to Spanish online newspaper Publico, Spain is the third most popular destination in the world for digital nomads, behind Portugal and Thailand. The Spanish government granted almost 7,500 digital nomad visas in the first 10 months following its introduction alone.
A significant chunk of those were snapped up by Brits and Americans, but not included in the figures are thousands of EU nationals, often Swedes, Germans and Dutch, who can more easily spend time in Spain working remotely. Overall, the Spanish press estimates there are over 750,000 remote workers in the country.
Locals complain that mass-tourism and digital nomads create parallel societies within cities: one for the well-paid web workers backed up by foreign purchasing power, another for locals. Language, not only income, is emerging as a class marker now: in many of Spain’s historic old towns and hipster neighbourhoods, you’re now as likely to hear fluent, non-native English as you are Spanish.
Sherice, 44, a fluent Spanish and Catalan speaker, tells Euronews Travel that most digital nomads “don’t bother to learn about the culture, learn the languages, or understand the traditions. It’s just like one big vacation to them.
“To find an American that speaks Catalan is an even bigger rarity. It’s like an instant friend cheat code,” she says.
‘We really want to integrate’
But there are those consciously trying to integrate into Spanish life, despite the backlash. This is especially true for remote workers who’ve moved to Spain with an eye on the long-term, rather than hopping between countries every few months. Some even have plans to gain Spanish citizenship.
“We really want to integrate,” Jane tells Euronews Travel. “It’s practical for us to integrate as early as [possible] now, and therefore we exert effort in learning the language… and doing everything we need to be citizens in the future.”
Mass-tourism also gentrifies traditional neighbourhoods. Local businesses are replaced by more generic, international chains you could find on any high street around the world, or the Instagrammable boutique bars and coffee shops that locals wouldn’t dream of frequenting but digital nomads tend to congregate in.
But despite the reputation, some want to play their part in preserving Spanish culture. “For us, we want to protect the way of life here,” Ron says. “We wanted to move here because of the way of life. We don’t want to ruin it.”
Ron is becoming friendly with locals, helps his elderly neighbours with their tech needs, and shops at local businesses. “We’re enrolled in a language school,” he adds, and explains they are sending their daughter to a local school.
“We’re conscious that she’s not going to an international school or an English speaking school. She has to speak the local language,” he says.
Alexander agrees. “We hired a girl for our daughter to teach her Spanish and prepare for school,” he says.
For younger digital nomads, taking classes or joining clubs is another way to integrate. “One of our favourite ways that we integrated into Spanish life was Catalan cooking school,” Jasper says. “We took several classes and learned all kinds of Catalan dishes, some we cook regularly to this day.”
