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☆ ‘A point of no return:’ Why Europe has become an epicenter for anti-tourism protests this summer
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-27 | by ( Billy Stockwell | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

CNN —Anti-tourism protests have been sweeping across Europe this summer, with demonstrations taking place in the Netherlands, Greece, and of course, Spain. When anti-tourism protesters started to fire water pistols at visitors in the Barcelona city center on July 6, a moment that gained international attention, Ramirez said he could “feel the resentment” in the air. Frankly, I think it worked,” Ramirez said, reflecting on the ability of the protests to dissuade tourists from visiting the city. Jaime Reina/AFP/Getty ImagesIt’s not just housing issues that have generated a backlash against tourists, Ramirez said, adding that the disrespectful behavior of some has also played a part. Bad tourist behavior has been a problem across other parts of Europe too, including Barcelona, Mallorca, Magaluf and Benidorm, Ramirez said.

Persons: Carlos Ramirez, Ramirez, ”, It’s, Jaume Collboni, Andrey Rudakov, ” Ramirez, Antje Martins, Eduardo Santander, Martins, “, € 2.4million, Marco Bertorello, Luigi Brugnaro, Susanna Polloni, ” Polloni, Collboni, ‘, ’, Jaime Reina, Bacchus, ” Sebastian Zenker, Zenker Organizations: CNN, Primavera Sound, skyrocketing, ”, Bloomberg, Barcelona’s City, University of Queensland, “, European Travel Commission, Getty, Solidarity Network for Housing, Palma de Mallorca, AFP, Copenhagen Business School Locations: Europe, Netherlands, Greece, Spain, Spanish, Barcelona, Mallorca, Southern Europe, Canary, Magaluf, Barcelona’s, Antje, “ Barcelona, €, AFP, Venice, “, Sagrada Familia, Palma de, Florence, Italy, Benidorm

☆ Barcelona anti-tourism protesters fire water pistols at visitors
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-08 | by ( Jack Guy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —Protesters in Barcelona have sprayed visitors with water as part of a demonstration against mass tourism. Demonstrators marching through areas popular with tourists on Saturday chanted “tourists go home” and squirted them with water pistols, while others carried signs with slogans including “Barcelona is not for sale.”According to Barcelona's City Council, some 2,800 people demonstrated against mass tourism in the center of Barcelona on Saturday. Josep Lago/AFP/Getty ImagesAccording to official figures, almost 26 million visitors made an overnight stay in the Barcelona region in 2023, spending €12.75 billion ($13.8 billion). Protesters squirt water pistols during Saturday's protest. In April, locals in the Canary Islands mobilized to protest against excessive tourism, blaming visitors for pricing them out of their homes and causing environmental damage.

Persons: Lorena Sopêna, de, Josep Lago, Decreixement Turístic, Jaume Collboni, Collboni, Louis, Antoni Gaudí’s Organizations: CNN, Protesters, “ Barcelona, Barcelona's City Council, Europa Press, Assembly, Tourism Degrowth, Louis Vuitton, Antoni Gaudí’s Parc, Canary Locations: Barcelona, Spain, Canary, Mallorca, AFP, Antoni Gaudí’s Parc Güell

☆ With day-trip fee 'Disney-fication' of Venice, the world hits its overtourism tipping point
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-28 | by ( Trevor Laurence Jockims | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

In the 1970s, there were about 175,000 residents in Centro Storico, the main island and historic center of Venice. In fact, there are now more tourist beds in Venice than there are residents. Last week, Venice took action on overtourism, introducing a 5€ fee to day trippers who want to access the city. "You can't impose an entrance fee to a city; all they're doing is transforming it into a theme park. Marco Bertorello | Afp | Getty ImagesDespite its many detractors, the day fee is a significant move on the part of Venice's government to confront the challenge of overtourism, which has become a significant global problem since the pandemic.

Persons: Stefano Mazzola, Luigi Brugnaro, Mark —, There's, Matteo Secchi, Marco Bertorello, Antonio Paolo Russo, Russo Organizations: Piazzale Roma, Getty, Venice, Centro Storico, Guardian, Tourists, Afp, Virgili University Locations: Piazzale, Venice, Italy, Centro, Piazzale Roma, Santa Lucia, Tarragona, Spain, Bali, Barcelona, Amsterdam, Europe

☆ Mexico is the best country to live and work abroad, a survey of expats has found. Here's the top 10.
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-12 | by ( Beatrice Nolan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Mexico is the most popular place to live and work abroad, a survey of more than 10,000 expats found. The survey also found that expats were most unhappy in Kuwait, Norway, and Turkey. The country has been popular with expats for some time, consistently ranking as one of the five most popular countries since the InterNations survey was first conducted in 2014. More than 10,000 expats spanning 171 nationalities and living across 172 countries and territories took part in the survey. Expats praised the country for having friendly locals and said it was easy to find housing.

Persons: InterNations, Expats, Radu Bercan, Lisa Marie David, NurPhoto, Malgorzata, Marielle, Inti, Toshio Kishiyama, Oleg Senkov Organizations: Service, Privacy, Buddha, Getty, Clair, Panama, Guell Locations: Mexico, Kuwait, Norway, Turkey, Wall, Silicon, Portugal, Lisbon, Bahrain Bahrain's, Philippines, Mayon, Costa Rica, Thailand Bangkok, Thailand, Taiwan, AFP, Malaysia George Town, Malaysia, Panama Panama City, Panama, Barcelona, Spain

☆ Electric cars could cost the same as gas-powered ones as soon as 2025 — so long as you buy small
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Alexa St. John | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Electric cars could cost the same as gas-powered ones as early as the mid-2020s. That's only if shoppers go small, according to new analysis from the International Energy Agency. It's as long as shoppers buy small, according to the International Energy Agency's latest global EV outlook. Still, the average new EV cost $58,940 in March, according to Kelley Blue Book, while the average new gas-powered car went for $48,008. Bigger battery-powered vehicles have batteries that are two- to three-times larger than small cars, according to the IEA, which requires more critical minerals that are costly.

☆ Smaller EV prices to come down as EV sales climb, IEA says
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Victoria Waldersee | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The agency raised its EV sales forecasts in part because of the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act, which supports green industry and subsidises consumers' purchase of electric vehicles (EVs), IEA executive director Fatih Birol said on a media call. China features prominently, making up half the EVs on the road worldwide including battery-electric cars and plug-in hybrids, and with 60% of EV sales last year taking place there, according to the IEA's annual outlook on EVs. The country has also seen prices for some smaller EV models edging lower towards those of their combustion engine equivalents, said the IEA's energy technology policy head, Timar Guell. SUVs and large cars account for nearly two-thirds of EVs in China and Europe and a greater proportion in the United States. In emerging and developing economies, two- or three-wheel electric vehicles outnumber cars.

☆ Paddle your own pumpkin: racers descend on Belgian pond
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-24 | by ( Charlotte Campenhout | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Contestants compete during the Pumpkin Regatta, an annual pumpkin boat relay race, in the Belgian town of Kasterlee, Belgium October 23, 2022. REUTERS/Bart BiesemansKASTERLEE, Belgium, Oct 23 (Reuters) - Hundreds of competitors, many dressed up as pirates, nuns, animals or vegetables, climbed into carved-out pumpkins and paddled them around a pond in northern Belgium, in an annual relay race. Racing the huge vegetables takes some skill - "when you paddle, it doesn't move forward but starts spinning", local competitor Jonas Verbruggen said - and this year some fell in the water after their pumpkins took too much water. Racer Oscar Guell, a Spaniard living in Brussels, called the experience "dirty, sticky and oily" - before gleefully adding that he'd definitely be back next year. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterReporting by Charlotte Van Campenhout; editing by John StonestreetOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Gareth Kaminski-Cook, CEO of Autins, which makes noise-reducing and thermal insulation for carmakers, gives a tour of the auto supplier's factory in Tamworth, Britain, May 3, 2022. Many auto suppliers, already squeezed by rampant inflation and energy prices, say they have little choice but to shoulder the extra costs of making their components sustainable to meet carmakers' environmental targets. "We're going to see a real big shakeout the next five, 10 years in the auto supply chain." The company, which is worth about $39 billion, launched its own sustainability drive in 2020 and is working on recyclable products with carmakers including Volkswagen, Volvo and BMW. Guell says carmakers only want to work with suppliers who use green energy, leaving him in a tight spot.

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