A Valencian teacher who has lived in France for fifteen years decides to return home; the Trade Ministers of the European Union encouraged to come to a meeting in Valencia; the German staff of PowerCo asking their superiors about the open positions for the future gigafactory... And there is more: Dutch employees who are looking for an apartment to live in the city after a short stay for work during which they have ended up falling in love with running in the Turia garden and, why not say it, the afternoon in Russafa.
“València is in fashion” is also synonymous with people who emigrate to work and confirms their success, beyond those hordes of tourists who occupy the Plaza de la Virgen and who, when they take their bicycles, end up almost reaching the door of my house. . In some sectors, tourism is beginning to bother the city. Neighbors on the warpath speak of gentrification in Cabanyal or in Ciutat Vella, where the City Council has just announced a new tourist office.
Is Valencia the Barcelona of a few years ago? Or, to be specific, do we want it to be? That the city has benefits that we locals have not been able to see until recently is very true, but there is an obvious risk that whoever exploits it now will go too fast. The Administration's proposal is that of the so-called "sustainable tourism" and leisure entrepreneurs think that the city has made a great change that still has some way to go, but some indicators should make us react before continuing to climb steps in any ranking.
The neighbors, blonde and young, who carry suitcases up and down in that beautiful building in the Arrancapins neighborhood where my sister lives are not a coincidence and the small and modest hotel that they have opened where the Jesús market speaks and a lot of How tourist interest in Valencia is growing.
Boats are rented in the port and caravans for tourists, apartments replace residential homes and my friends cannot become independent because, literally, they can no longer pay the price the landlord sets. Because let's not forget, those 850 euros that they are asking you now for the same property that was previously worth 600 euros are being asked for by a person who has seen how the market is becoming more and more juicy. And scarcer, I would add. Because there are 64,593 homes missing, according to a recent study, in the functional area of Valencia.
The expatriates are going to come, the Germans from Volkswagen and the Europeans who have now discovered that, in addition to Alicante, Valencia is also worth it. And on the stairs they are going to come across the Valencians who, without enough salary to pay the rent or the mortgage, take their suitcase down to live where?
