“Hello tourist, we love you aunque orinéis in the corners”. Tourismphobia in the Spanish press 2017-2022

Abstract

Tourism, understood as a major driver of economic development and promoted by public policies, creates impacts and social tensions that have already been the subject of studies in the academic literature. Concepts such as gentrification, touristification or tourismphobia have also been the subject of debate in the last decade. The latter, unlike others, has acquired a high media and political impact, creating what some experts refer as a "smokescreen" designed to avoid addressing tourism management problems. This paper investigates this phenomenon by analysing the narrative as disseminated by the Spanish press. Selected news items from four national newspapers (El País, El Mundo, La Razón and ElDiario.es) related to the object of study have been analysed with the objective of comparing ideological positions on tourismphobia in the press between 2017 and 2022, highlighting which elements stand out in order to generate the desired public opinion.