Mayor offers paid holidays to tourists hit by Barcelona protests | Europe | Travel

A mayor of a stunning city has gone viral after offering paid holidays to tourists affected by protests in Barcelona.

Panama City Mayor Mayer Mizrachi offered to pay for flights and accommodation in Panama for tourists affected by ongoing anti-tourism demonstrations. These lucky visitors will be able to enjoy the Central American country following the launch of a campaign to promote tourism in the capital city.

In a now-viral video, which has racked up 861,000 views and 42,9000 likes, four tourists were pictured under the phrase: “Wanted. If you were one of those affected in the Barcelona protests, contact us, we have a surprise for you.”

Mizrachi then says: “In Panama, as mayor of the city, we will welcome you (so) that you enjoy all the experiences that Panama City has to offer.” He added he “regrets very much” the treatment given to tourists during the unrest in Barcelona, where demonstrators fired water pistols at tourists and rallied against overcrowding and increased housing prices which activists argue is pushing local people out of neighbourhoods.

This happened in the heart of the Spanish city, which has about 1.6 million inhabitants and last year received about 12 million tourists, according to official data. The protests have been condemned by the Catalan authorities and the hospitality sector, which highlighted the value the tourism industry brings to the city.

The demonstrations have been replicated in other Spanish cities over the last few months, with areas such as Cadiz, Santa Cruz de Tenerife and Las Palmas de Gran Canarias the most affected by overcrowding.

The so-called ‘influencer’ mayor of Panama’s told EFE “some tourists were being rejected by the country they were visiting” and for him “it is a regret” because they would love to have them. “Let them visit us and get to know Panama,” he added.

The mayor said the four people most affected by the disruption would receive free flights and accommodation. He added: “In fact, if anyone knows the identity of these people, we would like to send them free flight tickets and free stays in Panama so that they can get to know the city. Let them relax and enjoy themselves. Let them come to a city where they are welcome.”

Tourism currently contributes 11% of Panama’s gross domestic product (GDP), representing some 5 billion dollars in foreign exchange annually, and generates 40,000 direct jobs and 100,000 indirect jobs, according to official figures.

Panama has been working in recent years to boost its tourism sector, which in 2023 saw an increase in international visitor arrivals and income from the sector. Mizrachi calls himself the ‘Chacalde’ (a combination of the words ‘chacal’, the word for working-class criminals in Panama, and ‘mayor’) and earned his role in the city’s May 5 elections with 161,460 votes.

In his video he made reference to unrest on July 6, which saw thousands of people take to the streets of Barcelona against mass tourism to denounce its negative impact on the cost and quality of life of the local population. Demonstrators sprayed a small group of visitors with water pistols and shouted: “Tourists, go home,” while others carried banners with slogans such as: “Barcelona is not for sale.”

“When I saw the news from Spain, I said, ‘This can’t be, we have to take advantage of what they don’t want to tell them that we do want them,'” Mizrachi told CNN, adding: “It seems that the trash of some is the treasure of others, doesn’t it? We want to highlight Panama’s tourism and we are delighted to welcome what in Spain is considered a problem. Having a city full of tourists would be positive.”

Mizrachi boasts nearly 200,000 followers on the social network X, almost half a million on TikTok, and more than 700,000 on Instagram. The mayor uses his platform to publish a video inviting people who believed they were the worst-affected to come forward to apply for their free trip.

“Those four people are the ones we saw in the video, the video that went viral, who were trying to block the water, because it obviously fell on them. They were the most mistreated people that we could see. But any of the people who were involved in that situation, who were not in the video, as well,” said Mizrachi, while inviting them to contact him through his social networks, those of the Mayor’s Office of Panama or those of the Panama Tourism Authority.

Asked how he would know whether people had genuinely been affected by the situation in Barcelona, Mizrachi said he would trust people to be honest, adding the ultimate goal is to boost tourism to Panama.

On Friday (July 19), Mizrachi reported through his social networks that one of the tourists affected by the demonstrations had been contacted by the Mayor’s Office. He said: “I have excellent news. My team has just told me something. One of the affected tourists in Barcelona is in contact with us.”