Simon Calder

I mean, we've seen examples, for instance, was it last summer in Barcelona, there were tourists being pelted with water pistols.

And, you know, while they were just sitting in a lovely square having lunch.

So, I mean, that's on the scale of unpleasant things to happen.

That's fairly low down, but it's obviously disconcerting.

I have...

Unbelievably, perhaps in Dublin, also seen anti-tourism slogans painted in various locations.

And of course, Dublin, for the vast majority of tourists, is a very welcoming place.

And crucially, of course, Mallorca, the other Balearic Islands, the Canaries, are doing really very well financially because of our desire to go from...

colder northern Europe to lovely sunny islands and enjoy everything, the cuisine, the culture, the countryside and more particularly the beaches.

Sure, yes.

And I mean, a good place to look for how to apply remedies is actually New York City.

Manhattan doesn't really have any Airbnbs because the city outlawed them.

And actually, I think New York has a big accommodation problem anyway, which is why an awful lot of football fans are fed up with paying three, four, five hundred dollars a night during the World Cup.

But it's a remedy that is within the hands of local people, local government.

Yes, say we will not accept any Airbnb, which is not kind of going back to the original slightly hippie-ish idea, which is whereby you have a...

a spare room and you let it out to somebody for maybe 50 euro a night, which is absolutely fine.

That's not going to do anybody out of their home.

But when you've got Airbnbs on an industrial scale, and I've actually heard in Barcelona of investors buying entire apartment blocks, not to put local people in, but to put out on Airbnb, then there is a serious social problem.

But having said all of that, the vast majority of the world,

including here in lovely Newcastle upon Tyne, would love over-tourism as a problem because inbound tourism to any location, Ireland or wherever, is the closest you can get to free money.