Summer 2021. After a year and a half of a pandemic, San Sebastian again welcomes foreign tourists: The COVID-19 passport is activated, with open hotels, city promotion campaigns, new legislation on tourist floors … the tourist machinery is back in operation. Therefore, some have missed it and have now returned the ‘normal’ of the tourism model that they want to regain urgently. But which tourism model are we talking about? What normality do we recover? In the last year and a half we have seen the tourist market enter an unprecedented crisis. The weaknesses of this economic model have been exposed and this experience invites the neighbours and neighbours of San Sebastian to rethink if we want to bear the costs of tourism in our lives.

Summer 2021. The housing emergency is a virus that needs to be combated. We come from the spring in which sixteen movements and associations of the city have carried out an unprecedented mobilization in Donostia in defense of the right to housing. The housing crisis in the city is more serious than ever: Rentals impossible to pay, evictions … However, after the express modification of the General Urban Planning Plan, 550 more tourist apartments have been legalized in Donostia-San Sebastián. On the other hand, the 35 hotel licenses distributed in recent years have led to the completion of the works of these hotels and to new openings. It is summer in a city where housing has ceased to be a right and where it has become a luxury in the hands of fewer people.

Summer 2021. At the global level, air traffic and cruises pollute the air and oceans again. In Donostia-San Sebastian, the island of Santa Clara, an area of great natural value, has become a new tourist attraction of the city with the risk of overflow. The natural environment of Atondegi is also threatened by its destruction through an absurd surf park. Yes, it seems that to return to normal was to continue to opt for the exploitation and degradation of natural spaces in favour of a tourism market in the hands of private promoters.

Summer 2021. Tourist activity is recovering against the consequences of the pandemic: the jobs lost are recovering and it is in this activity that many workers in the city and its surroundings will find employment. However, going towards monoculture tourism is a false step towards improving the living conditions of citizens. If there is no commitment to economic diversification and no real commitment to reorienting workers towards other sectors, exploitation, precariousness and the unstable labour market will depend again.

When we are told the benefits of tourist activity, it is presented as an economic engine and a creator of employment. However, if we look carefully, it is worth highlighting, on the one hand, the poor quality and fragility of this employment and economic activity. On the other hand, it is clear that tourist activity requires enormous public investment and absolute conditionalisation of public policies. It generates jobs, it gives a few great profits, but public budgets are at the base. Cities adapt to the benefits of those who earn from tourism, create cultural attractions, build large infrastructures… and pay with everyone’s taxes.

Let's immunize ourselves against turistification. Let us not leave the health of the city in the hands of an economic model that does not guarantee decent living conditions for the citizens. We care for the life of the city to the extent that it is in our hands. The year and a half pandemic has made it clear that the decline in tourism is both necessary and inevitable. Let us organize and fight in that direction for the neighborhoods and streets.