You’ve probably already had this conversation. At global Barcelona for some time now, there have been many figures that go far beyond the simple definition of a lifelong neighbor from Barcelona. And while we are more than used to tourism, and migration is a consubstantial part of the history of the city, lately a new term has appeared: expat.
Tourist, migrant, expat… The three terms speak to us of people coming from outside to relate to the city, however, they do not all mean the same thing, and the nuances of the meaning of each one speak to us of diverse origins, motives and types of mobility that condition the relationship with the city and, therefore, their impact on it.
For this reason, we bring you ahead of the work of the next Christmas dinner and explain the difference between each of these terms so that you have a clear understanding of the difference in the next debate. Of course, we know that these are definitions and, therefore, generalizations, and that within each of these groups there will be exceptions.
Tourist
The simplest definition: a tourist is a person who travels to a different place for a short period of time, with the objective of enjoying recreational, cultural or leisure activities. Tourists are not looking to settle in the place they visit; their purpose is to explore and experience what the destination has to offer.
For some time now, Barcelona is a tourist city y suffers the consequences of overcrowding to the point where this 2024 the city council has explicitly proposed to fight against this overcrowding to curb its effects.
Migrant
Perhaps the most delicate definition. A migrant is a person who moves from his or her place of origin to another country or region, with the intention of settling down on a more permanent basis. The reasons for migrating can be diverse, including the search for better economic opportunities, education, family reunification or escape from conflict and persecution.
As opposed to expat, the migrant settles in another country for long periods of time, without a clear intention to return to the country of origin and tends to become more attached to the host country. Likewise, contrary to the expat, it is not uncommon for migrants to move to higher income countries in search of better economic conditions.
Expatriate (Expat)
One of the words of the year in Barcelona . There is no official definition of the word expat a neologism that is short for expatriate or. According to the Fundéu, the foundation for urgent Spanish, which covers neologisms widespread in popular use, the word refers to “people who leave their country to work in another”.
And although this may coincide with the definition of migrant , the word has been extended, in a popular way, to refer to people who do not change their residence out of necessity, but rather live temporarily in a different country for professional reasons, generally employees who are transferred by their companies to work abroad or professionals who decide to move to work remotely, for example, digital nomads.
They are usually high net worth employees or workers from countries with higher incomes than their temporary places of residence l. In addition, they often maintain a strong link to their country of origin and intend to return eventually. As a result, they are people who tend to have little attachment to their place of residence.
In Barcelona, this has translated into a notable increase in the number of establishments with services aimed at this type of public (from brunch to laundromats) and directly labeled or served in English.
The expat phenomenon is also blamed for the rise in rental prices, as the higher salaries of these workers and their temporary stays push the market to raise housing prices and rent them on a long-stay basis . According to various studies, in Barcelona between 20 and 30% of the housing supply is destined for this type of rental, with areas in the center where this percentage rises to 50%.