Before visiting Barcelona in March, I’d read the headlines with a healthy mix of scepticism and concern.

Tourists sprayed with water guns. Locals shout: ‘Tourists go home!’ More protests planned.

They painted the picture of a people fed up with the economy of coming and going. And there was no escaping it: my presence could contribute to the problem. I was travelling to run the city’s marathon – one of its biggest international events – and wondered if I’d picked the wrong time.

As is so often the case, the reality was more nuanced.

Big events bring big money – but also big crowds

International marathons are big business. According to its title sponsor, Bank of America, the 2022 Chicago Marathon generated about €340 million, created almost 3,000 jobs and pumped €145 million into the local economy.

Barcelona’s marathon isn’t quite on that scale, but still 27,000 people signed up for the March race – 7,000 more than ever before.

That’s roughly the number nine cruise ships would carry at full capacity, all descending on the city for one morning of hard work and one night of celebratory cava and vermút.

Would the city bristle at yet another influx of visitors eager to get lost in the Gothic Quarter, marvel at Gaudí’s masterpieces and feast their way through the mercats?

Not at all. I wasn’t met with water guns – although they would’ve been welcome at points along the 42-kilometre course – but with cries of encouragement.

Thousands of locals lined the streets. The energy was electric. The city felt proud.

None of this was a surprise. Marathons have yet to become targets for anti-tourism protestors, even if ‘race-cations’ are on the rise.

Still, the tension is real, and the impacts of overcrowding aren’t hard to find.

Why some locals are reaching their limit

Barcelona is one of Europe’s most visited cities. More than 12 million people visit each year, and about five million make a beeline for Park Güell and Sagrada Família alone. The pressure on these places – and on the people who live nearby – is immense.

Yet tourism accounts for more than 125,000 jobs and nearly 15 per cent of the city’s economy.

For many locals, this isn’t about banning tourists. It’s about finding a sustainable balance.

“Barcelona is a much calmer, safer and more welcoming city than what is reported, but sometimes we pay more attention to isolated events that make a lot of noise,” says Jordi Luque Sanz, a Barcelona native, food writer and senior culinary attaché at Bon Vivant Communications, a firm that manages chefs and high-end restaurants around the world.

“Having said that, I will not deny that tourism has grown enormously in recent years, that we lack an adequate model because no government has been interested in developing one seriously and that some areas are very overcrowded.”

During my trip, checklist destinations like La Rambla and Sagrada Família were packed, despite grey, wet and unpredictable weather. At one restaurant, I watched as a waiter – with the patience of a saint – repeatedly turned away diners who had ignored a “reservations only” sign and barged in to ask for a table, always in English.

At Park Güell, confused visitors, unaware they needed to book tickets online, met with exasperated workers. There, I overheard one staff member exclaim to a Spanish-speaking couple: “What a miracle to hear people speaking Spanish in this place!”

Cruise ships and short-term lets are under scrutiny

Much of the strain stems from how people visit the city.

Among the biggest flashpoints are short-term rentals and cruise ship tourism. Many apartments have been converted intoAirbnbs, pricing out locals and turning once-quiet streets into party zones.

“Here we don’t have ‘suburbia,’” says Ann-Marie Brannigan, an Irish expat and co-founder of Runner Bean Tours who has lived in Barcelona for almost 20 years. “Some people don’t know much about neighbourhood or flat living. It took me years to get used to it.”

She says that many tourists will often sit out on balconies or terraces, drinking and talking long after midnight – a taboo in Barcelona communities.

“If you want to have fun and party, you should go out to zones where there are clubs,” she advises.

Meanwhile,cruise ships unload thousands of day-trippers who rarely stay long enough to contribute meaningfully to the local economy.

Last May, Barcelona’s mayor, Jaume Collboni, warned that the volume of short-term travellers was overwhelming popular areas and crowding public transport. “We are reaching a limit, and we need to put a cap [on one-day visitors],” he said.

The cultural toll is just as concerning.

Longtime residents are watching their city change as historic bars, restaurants and neighbourhood markets are rebranded to suit the tastes of a transient crowd, and chintzy shops now occupy historic buildings in El Born and the Gothic Quarter.

What travellers can do differently

Beyond the big-name attractions, though, a less saturated and more rewarding Barcelona still exists.

The Recinte Modernista de Sant Pau offers a remarkable look at Barcelona’s modernist movement with a fraction of the crowds of Sagrada Família just down the road.

Small coffee shops like Dalston and Sip pair locally roasted beans with friendly service.

Less-frequented venues like the historic Mercat de Sant Antoni and pintxo favourite Quimtet & Quimtet – standing tables only – offer antidotes to overcrowded hotspots.

These are the kinds of experiences experts like Luque suggest seeking out.

“The great monuments – La Sagrada Família, Casa Batlló, the Picasso Museum – are fabulous, but it’s worth trying to get to know other places, such as the neighbourhoods of Poble Nou or Sants, where everything is much more real,” he says.

Luque recommends local markets like Mercat del Ninot and Mercat de Galvany over the packed Boqueria and encourages travellers to explore quieter corners of Eixample, “not just along and around Paseo de Gracia, which is a wonderful street but too crowded.”

Dunnigan suggests places like Montjuïc and Glòries if you want to see more local – and overlooked – sides of the city. “The cemetery in Montjuïc is absolutely beautiful, and no one goes there,” she says, highlighting the Art Nouveau-style mausoleums built by the city’s bourgeois for their loved ones around the turn of the 20th century.

Glòries, she adds, offers a window into the city’s modern architecture, including landmarks like the excellent Design Museum of Barcelona and Encants Market.

And she encourages visiting community festivals instead of just big ones like La Mercè.

“Every neighbourhood has two a year, with food and sardanas (traditional music dancing),” says Brannigan. “They’ll give you a much more local feel.”

It also helps to know – and follow – local etiquette. Luque has a few suggestions.

Don’t go shirtless, he says. Avoid rowdy antics in residential neighbourhoods. Drinking in the street? Not allowed. And learn a few Catalan or Spanish phrases. “A ‘gràcies’ for thank you or ‘hola’ for hello always helps and a smile opens many doors,” he says.

Is Barcelona at a crossroads?

At a recent summit in the city, protestor Elena Boschi made a pointed declaration to the media members in attendance: “We want tourists to have some level of fear about the situation – without fear, there is no change.”

Her words underline the growing tension between a city that depends on tourism yet struggles to manage its impact – a tension that’s evident to anyone visiting the city.

With protestors planning Europe-wide disruptions on 15 June – across Barcelona, Venice, Lisbon and beyond – the atmosphere is more volatile than ever. But it’s also clear that Barcelona isn’t vehemently anti-tourist. It’s simply asking for a different kind of tourist: one who comes with curiosity and listens as much as they look.

Feeling stressed? Try flowers.

Experts have long said that exposure to nature can improve our well-being. Studies have backed up the power of ecopsychology, showing how even brief moments in the wild – from a stroll in a city park to a pilgrimage to view bluebells – can boost your mood, help you to feel more focused and empathetic, and even lower blood pressure.

Whether it’s the scent of lilies, the calming hues of hanging wisteria or the simple pleasure of spotting the season’s first poppies, floral blooms are good for you.

And spring in Europe might just be the best time and place to experience them.

Step into a living painting in Monet’s garden

In France, the small village of Giverny is a must for anyone who has ever wanted to step into a painting. Claude Monet designed his now-famous garden in 1883 as a living canvas that he could return to year after year. Even 150 years later, it is still full of life.

In spring, Monet’s garden bursts with the poppies, peonies and irises he immortalised in his Impressionist works. At the centre of it all is the lily pond, complete with the wisteria-covered Japanese bridge – in full bloom in May – that features in his most iconic works.

Run by the Fondation Claude Monet, the garden opens from 1 April to 1 November. Peak blooms arrive from April through June, but this is one place you can visit in any season to reconnect with nature.

Tulip mania blooms in the Netherlands

About 40 kilometres southwest of Amsterdam, the Keukenhof gardens are a spectacle of spring colour and one of Europe’s most famous floral destinations.

Developed as a giant floral display in 1949, the park showcases about seven million flowering bulbs across 32 hectares, including more than 800 varieties of tulips – the country’s most famous flower – alongside daffodils, orchids, hyacinths and lilies.

The gardens open from just March to mid-May each year. If you fear missing out on an essential windmill-and-tulip photo, note that Keukenhof publishes a fieldreport on which flowers are in bloom. Currently, you can witness late-flowering tulips, alliums and irises.

Tuscany’s poppies set the hills on fire

As Italy emerges from winter, Tuscany puts on its own natural show.

From April to May, wild poppies pop up between rows of vines and fields of cypress trees, painting the countryside in vivid red. The flowers prefer warm, dry places, which makes the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Val D’Orcia a prime spot to find them – ideally with a picnic under a blue spring sky.

Tuscany is home to several excellent hiking routes that take in fields of wheat, lush forests and medieval towns. For an unforgettable hike, you can set off on sections of the Via Francigena, an ancient pilgrimage trail that stretches from Canterbury to Rome.

Scotland and England’s bluebell woods are nature’s reset button

In central Scotland, the Glen Finglas estate in the Trossachs National Park is one of the UK’s most biodiverse areas and a brilliant place to catch the first bluebells of the season.

Managed by the Woodland Trust, this vast landscape of ancient forest, lochs and upland trails bursts to life in spring. Bluebells carpet the woodlands by early May, with rare orchids and mosses appearing later in the season. Hikers can follow several trails, but the 27-kilometre Mell Circuit offers some of the best floral vistas and hilltop views.

For an easier escape, try Richmond Park’s Isabella Plantation. A little southwest of Wimbledon in London, this enclosed woodland garden becomes a riot of colour each April and May, when its pedestrian-only Bluebell Walk opens.

Slightly further afield, Kent’s Hole Park Gardens offers an annual “bluebell spectacular,” complete with abluebell barometer keeping you informed of the colours you can expect.

Four days of discussions and presentations highlighting emerging travel trends and ambitions at the Arabian Travel Market (ATM) came to a close yesterday.

Taking place at the Dubai World Trade Centre, the Middle East’s leading travel and hospitality trade show is expected to have welcomed a record-breaking number of visitors, up from 46,000 last year.

Tourism boards, airlines, hotels and tech providers from across the globe, as well as ministers, executives and entrepreneurs, were in attendance.

Here’s what the experts say is in store for the future of worldwide travel.

Connectivity is at the core of the travel industry

The 32nd edition of ATM saw a diverse roster of panel talks, networking events and exhibitions spanning sectors from aviation and accommodation to wellness, hospitality and MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions).

This year’s theme, “Global Travel: Developing Tomorrow’s Tourism Through Enhanced Connectivity,” set the tone for a programme focused on how the industry can adapt to changing expectations.

Jonathan Hesty, portfolio director for RX Global, organiser of ATM, said connectivity is “hugely imperative to all of us, not just organisations and destinations, but us as travellers as well.”

“A connected industry allows people to move around the world, to experience new destinations they may never have been to before, to learn about new cultures,” he added.

“From an industry point of view, it gives a chance for people to connect to new customers, to help new people experience the delights that we have on show here at ATM this week.”

Sustainability is a cornerstone of the travel sector

One overarching topic of the week was sustainability, which Hesty described as the “cornerstone of our content programme”.

Sessions covered myriad aspects of green travel, including regenerative and responsible tourism, food waste in hospitality, and how to form a circular economy to try and minimise the carbon impact of the industry.

“We’re delighted to provide a platform for the industry to talk about it, to share and to work out strategies to reduce the carbon impacts of the industry,” said Hesty.

A spokesperson for Dubai Holding Entertainment, which operates some of Dubai’s most iconic attractions and family destinations, described sustainability as “a very important pillar of our organisation”.

“We have assets where we offer experiences to families, and we believe that it is very important to teach new generations about sustainability,” the spokesperson said.

“We have very specific programmes about energy savings and waste management. We have an amazing attraction called Green Planet that is all about nature and sustainability.”

For Cristian Stanicic, general director of the Croatian National Tourist Board, sustainable tourism is also about visitor numbers.

“We want to be focused more on less popular tourism destinations, smaller tourism destinations,” he said.

“And we want to extend our tourism season to pre- and after-season, not only in the summer season, because we want to avoid some scenarios that we’ve seen in other Mediterranean countries with overtourism.”

Technology is transforming the travel experience

Technology was highlighted as a key way to redefine the visitor experience.

Mohamed Abdallah Al-Zaabi, CEO of hotel marketing company Mirai, said AI is at the core of their development strategy for their destinations Yas Island and Saadiyat in Abu Dhabi.

“One of our main goals on Yas Island and Saadiyat is to create a unique and immersive experience for our customers,” he said.

“We use big data and machine learning to better understand customer behaviour, better understand our existing data, capture data, and based on that, we customise and tailor different and new experiences.”

Similarly, Dubai Holding Entertainment said technology is key to learning about customers’ interests.

The group uses AI to understand what kind of new experiences families are looking for and, therefore, where to invest.

Travel that is accessible to everyone

Discussions also centred around accessibility within the travel sector. Asam Kalbham, CEO of Dubai Corporation for Tourism and Commerce Marketing, talked about how Dubai is ensuring inclusivity.

DXB International Airport has an open skies policy, he explained, and works with airlines that prioritise accessibility.

“I’m so proud to say that we have just recently been announced as the first city in the Eastern Hemisphere that is certified autism destination,” he added.

“And Emirates Airlines has got the certification as well, as well as Dubai Airport, DXP International, Expo City and other facilities.”

Kalbham emphasised that, “accessibility for us means every single person from every part of the world and all walks of life should be able to enjoy Dubai.”