Spain Has Changed. Here's What You Need to Know

Who remembers menu del dia at 7 euro..

Quite right, Spain has changed a lot. As my late father said: When Spain becomes Europe we'll have to move to South America... 🤣😂🤣😂

I've been regularly visiting Spain for all but 40 years and lived here for the last 20 years many things have certainly changed , on balance ,I prefer the older Spain ,

Once surveys, influencers, or people start ranking and rating as best place to visit or live, words gets around and unfortunately the place gets overrun by crowds ruining the place for good.

In the past, the biggest cities in Spain did receive some tourists, but if you looked around the majority were locals. Now the city centre feels like a theme park, tourists everywhere, Airbnbs are beginning to outnumber homes, and the owners of those homes turned Arbnb are often not people but companies who own dozens and even hundreds of those. That kind of tourism is not what locals want.

Spain has become incredibly popular over the past decade or so, and it really feels like the country has changed significantly over the last 10–15 years. Much of that change has been driven by the influx of people from all over the world. Some of it comes from the millions of tourists who visit every year, while some comes from the large number of people who have chosen to make Spain their home. In Madrid, for example, wealthy Latin Americans—particularly Mexicans—have invested heavily in neighborhoods like Barrio de Salamanca, with many describing Madrid as the "new Miami." At the same time, Spain has welcomed large communities from Venezuela, Argentina, and many other countries. Add to that the post-COVID rise of remote work and digital nomad visas, and the country has become far more international than it was even a decade ago. There are clear benefits to these changes. Spain offers much greater diversity in its food, culture, and people than it did several decades ago, especially compared with 30 or 40 years ago. But there are tradeoffs as well. In many places, the culture feels less traditionally Spanish, and the cost of living has risen dramatically, particularly over the last five or six years. Despite these changes, Spain remains a phenomenal place to live. My concern is that the combined pressures of mass tourism and immigration—whether from wealthy newcomers or those arriving with fewer resources—are contributing to higher housing and living costs that many ordinary Spaniards struggle to keep up with. By "Spaniards," I mean everyone who calls Spain home, including those whose families immigrated there and are now part of Spanish society. Salaries in Spain have not kept pace with the rising cost of living, and while the country remains wonderful, that affordability challenge is becoming increasingly difficult for many residents.

I do agree with you, Spain has changed. Even the Spaniards can't afford to live in Malaga.

I am from Spain and I agree 100% with yiur video from begining to the end