This thesis examines the relationships between LGBT+ residents and tourists in Barcelona, analysing the factors that shape them, the shared practices, and the spaces and moments in which they occur.
From the perspective of tourism studies, the relationship between host and guest has been widely analysed, though almost always through a market-driven, utilitarian approach focused on tourist-client satisfaction and understanding the resident’s attitude, considering them as a territorial resource that may facilitate or hinder tourism development. However, few studies have set aside commercial exchange to strictly analyse social aspects. This is precisely our starting point. To address this issue, we have focused on a specific group within the local population and a segment of tourists who share a key aspect of their identity: being LGBT+ individuals. This allows us to work with a smaller and potentially more interaction-prone sample.
Thus, the general objective of this thesis is to study the conception of LGBT+ territory through the relationships established between LGBT+ residents and tourists. As a case study, the city of Barcelona has been selected.
The research methodology adopted is mixed and combines interviews with LGBT+ residents in Barcelona, in which participants created an individual mental map; an online questionnaire addressed to LGBT+ tourists who have visited the city; and participant observations.
Regarding the interviewees, there were 49 individuals with diverse profiles based on their place of residence, personal background, and position within the LGBT+ spectrum. The questionnaire collected 135 responses from tourists of 36 nationalities who visited the city at some point since 2017. As for the observations, they were conducted in spaces identified as LGBT+ at various moments throughout the survey.
This combination of methods has allowed for the verification and comparison of the collected information, considering the perspective of residents towards visitors, that of visitors towards residents, and also that of residents themselves when traveling as tourists. This third role has been crucial in breaking the resident-tourist binary and in framing the analysis in terms of equality between both groups.
The chosen geographical scope is Barcelona, both as a city and as a tourist destination, considering all the mobilities this entails, since many residents were born or have lived elsewhere, in addition to having travelled, and many tourists had already visited the city before.
The results are structured around three main axes. The first is the central role that leisure practices play in the relationships between LGBT+ individuals. Indeed, it has been observed that these relationships are primarily established during leisure moments and that, despite the different rhythms of residents and tourists, it is during these times that they occur. These relationships develop through a wide range of practices, shaped both by interests in specific types of leisure and by ideological or LGBT+ identity affinities.
Secondly, the multiplicity of LGBT+ territorialities present in the city has been observed, extending far beyond the central spaces of commercial and tourist leisure, which, in the case of Barcelona, are indisputably located in the Gaixample. The visibility of these territorialities is not homogeneous, as some are more evident than others and may gain relevance or disappear at certain moments. This landscape is characterized by continuities and discontinuities, segmented and fragmented, where territorialities often overlap, especially considering that the same individual may assume different roles and adopt various practices depending on their needs at any given time.
The third axis is the transformative power of tourism, including for the local population, particularly in the generation of new mobilities stemming from the relational experience between residents and visitors. In this regard, it is particularly significant to observe that relationships, complicities, and mutual acceptance between LGBT+ residents and tourists, in a bidirectional manner, are more intense than those between residents and tourists in general.
Within these hybridization dynamics, it is observed that residents actively contribute to the production of the LGBT+ destination, while LGBT+ tourists also participate in the shaping of the city.
This thesis repositions the analysis of LGBT+ tourism as an intrinsic phenomenon within the destination, focusing on two of its main actors: tourists and residents. This has resulted in the role of the LGBT+ tourism and leisure industry becoming blurred. Furthermore, regarding the relationships between hosts and guests, this analytical approach allows for a more egalitarian and bidirectional perspective, free from the expectations and demands inherent in the commercial exchange of services between both parties.
By approaching this issue from the notion of the LGBT+ community, it has been possible not only to explore the LGBT+/non-LGBT+ and resident/tourist matrix but also to bring to light the diversity of profiles, needs, and approaches within the community itself. Most of these profiles are sidelined by a commercial offer focused on a specific type of gay male tourist, a situation that not only excludes unconsidered groups but also limits the possibilities of the leisure and tourism sector. While all profiles claim their space, they do not necessarily do so strictly as a group. Thus, the umbrella term “LGBT+” could be effective, provided it materializes into a genuinely inclusive city/destination concept, where no one has to fear having a minority sexual orientation or gender identity.
The main contribution of this thesis is, therefore, a shift in perspective that breaks away from the resident/tourist binary and adopts that of the LGBT+ community, not as an identity categorization in relation to the heterosexual community, but from a functional perspective. Furthermore, placing the relational perspective at the centre provides key elements for developing the social dimension of tourism, often the most overlooked in sustainability research.
