As a Tourist Influx Makes Prices Soar, Hundreds Protest in Mexico City
Posted by GuardPlayer4Life@reddit | anime_titties | View on Reddit | 40 comments
New York Times (HERE)
The outrage reflects the growing difficulty of affording a city that has become a hot spot for Western immigrants.
By Pranav Baskar
July 5, 2025
Protests in Mexico City against a surge in tourism and rising prices turned violent on Friday night, damaging over a dozen businesses and drawing condemnation from officials.
The demonstration reflected the growing frustrations of many of the capital’s residents, who have watched rents skyrocket and old neighborhoods turn into swanky developments as the city has become a major tourist destination and a base for many so-called digital nomads.
DiamondHands1969@reddit
WAIT WHAAAAAAAAA?????!! mexicans DONT like non-citizens taking up space in their country? wouldnt it be crazy too if you told these foreigners to leave and they violently refuse?
marklein@reddit
Somebody didn't read the article.
GuardPlayer4Life@reddit (OP)
I see a different sentiment based on economic viability associated with earning potential in contrast to the average cost of living. One one side it is "Learn to Code/Let them eat Cake" and the other is "Burn it all down since I cannot have my cake and eat it too".
That is the juxtaposition of this article. We see this same sentiment here in the US.
BayouCitySaint@reddit
I get not wanting people to move there permanently or even temporarily. But tourism? Come, spend money, explore the city, leave? What is wrong with tourism? I’m not asking this in jest. I went to Mexico City for three days last year, loved it, and would go back again. For three days. Maybe not now?
YoloOnTsla@reddit
This article is calling people with a 2nd/3rd/4th home/condo in Mexico “tourists.” Which is why the rents are skyrocketing.
It’s like calling Chinese who are buying all $10 million+ real estate in LA tourists.
DeadliftsnDonuts@reddit
Yup. This is literally happening in America as well. Who do you think buys up apartments in NYC? Foreign investors.
marklein@reddit
Corporations bought 19% of residential properties last year. Foreigners bought 1.3%. Rent is out of control because of capitalism, not Others.
TinKicker@reddit
Canada actually imposed a tax on Chinese real estate purchases in Canada. 15% IIRC.
ColeslawConsumer@reddit
Should be 1500
BayouCitySaint@reddit
This is kind of the point I’m making. I’m not looking for a vacation home. I flew in, used local Uber drivers to go everywhere. I ate at local restaurants. Went shopping. Saw some cool sights. Got my gringo ass back on the plane and went home. I was a proper tourist.
If they really are protesting me, I won’t go back. If they are protesting expats, that’s not me, and it shouldn’t be labeled as a tourism protest.
Chicago1871@reddit
Theyre not protesting you. Tourism is fine.
Otoh, dont use airbnb, it contributes yo gentrification. Use hotels instead.
Jacinto2702@reddit
They're protesting people who buy property to rent to tourists, because that raises rents and prices in general. Wanna come? You're welcome, but try to stay in hotels and not Airbnb.
Another thing I want to say is, we are in a water crisis in the city and tourists use 4 times more water than residents.
GuardPlayer4Life@reddit (OP)
Would you elaborate please?
YoloOnTsla@reddit
As of a few months ago, something like 90% of offers on high value real estate in the LA area is made by Chinese/investors on behalf of Chinese citizens.
GuardPlayer4Life@reddit (OP)
That is understood. Just not understanding the LA comparison. Are Angelinos upset with the Chinese as the Mexicans are with gringos?
I don’t Kill Chinese spray painted on LA buildings…
YoloOnTsla@reddit
The same scenario is happening in both places. The difference is, Mexicans are rioting, and Americans aren’t doing a damn thing.
GuardPlayer4Life@reddit (OP)
Should Americans be angry with the Chinese?
YoloOnTsla@reddit
Depends on your opinion. But China doesn’t allow Americans to buy real estate in China without many restrictions. So is it fair that Chinese people get to buy American real estate with no restriction, while we can’t do the same in their country? Seems like a big oversight on our side, especially considering Dems and Repubs agree that China is one of our biggest threats.
Gentrification has always been a hot topic, and it will continue to expand in to a bigger problem. You can’t make more land, and the wealthy have no problem buying cheap, developable land in desirable areas. This will push people out of neighborhoods they may have lived in for decades.
GuardPlayer4Life@reddit (OP)
I saw an opinion piece on this topic, in Mexico City, that pointed out that these neighborhoods were originally for the wealthy and exclusive (Pre 1985 MC earthquake), and it is just the wealthy returning to their original strongholds.
As for gentrification, does a city benefit overall?
TinKicker@reddit
The Chinese were buying up all the available real estate in Canada, but then the Canadian government levied a 15% tax on all real estate purchases by Chinese nationals. (How they could actually levy a tax on a single group of people is…curious.)
Regardless, the result is, Chinese billionaires looking for a place to park their wealth outside of the CCP’s reach turned to the American real estate market.
the_pwnererXx@reddit
Source
kolossal@reddit
I've noticed that American media is portraying these protests as protests against tourism, while the protests really are against gentrification, at least that's how Mexican media is portraying it and from what I've seen and heard people chanting.
GuardPlayer4Life@reddit (OP)
I see it as anti-gentrification, but the blame and anger is being placed directly on the American, particularly the white gringo.
pm_me_your_pay_slips@reddit
Tourism is unproductive in the long run
oby100@reddit
Airbnb changed the game. Housing gets gobbled up to turn into full time vacation rentals and displaces locals and makes prices go up.
It’s the government that needs to step in and shut down housing being turned into airbnbs. Tourists should mostly stick to hotels and renting rooms from actual homeowners.
BayouCitySaint@reddit
Completely agree. I wish the signs said “fuck Airbnb and landlords”, not “fuck gringo tourists”.
Yet again the people are divided and mad at each other instead of the system that oppresses them.
lookmeat@reddit
The temporary immigrants are the tourists. They come in on a tourist visa, stay as long as the visa allows, they don't spend taxes, don't invest in the local community, they put a strain on the pubic services (which are partially subsidized by taxes they didn't pay) hospitals^1, police etc. and gentrify whole neighborhoods.
No one cares about you staying there for 3 days, Bell people are fine with that and would love to show you around. People care about apartments who are taken over by a tourist for 3 months and then left empty for another 2 before a new tourist moves in.
^1 a hospital is a good example of the issue. While medical costs must be paid fully but foreigners, they are dirty cheap (compared even to the US) because of socialized healthcare through IMSS and ISSTE (which also offer insurance to most citizens in the city). It gets harder to negotiate medicine prices or even have medicine available when demand surges thanks to tourists. You get to your local hospital and find that it's overwhelmed by a large amount of long term tourists who weren't accounted for (because they didn't live there, not pay taxes) when deciding how many rooms, staff, etc needed to be available. These little things add up, especially since tourists, paying full unsubsidized, unregulated prices are given priority in a medical potato famine of sorts.
JebediahKerman4999@reddit
i can tell you by living it first hand in another city that is also plagued by tourism. there will be no places available to rent, prices for house will multiply tenfold because of foreigners coming to buy a "vacation home", restaurants will start charging more, markets will start charging more. in the end the people that used to live in the city and made it what it is will be priced out and it will become an open air shopping mall with all the known big brands and chain restaurants.
KeltarPecunia@reddit
e.g. Hawaii
klaymudd@reddit
:my town of Paia on Maui :(
ManWhoTalksToHisHand@reddit
It happens everywhere. The rich like a place, and then they ruin it for everyone else.
waiver@reddit
People buying homes and turning them into Airbnb
salter77@reddit
Yeah, Airbnb is a problem at this point, also investors buying houses with the exclusive intention to put them in rent perpetually just to exploit people that actually had to live there.
Housing prices are a global problem at this point, not only in Mexico City and a lot of Americans are moving here because the same thing is happening there so they look for a cheaper option.
I think that the problem goes deeper than just the tourists and remote workers, but they are the most easily blamed so here we are.
Georgex2inthejungle@reddit
Abnb takes significant amount of housing off market for locals and subsequently hurts profit margins for local businesses like butchers, corner stores, flower shops, etc because tourists generally only go to restaurants and museums
BayouCitySaint@reddit
100% agree. If protests worldwide had “fuck Airbnb” instead of “fuck tourists”, they’d at least be angry at something closer to the root of the actual problem. Greed and exploitation from the owner class.
CamiloArturo@reddit
Even though this is peak reddit when someone comments without reading the article and though gets everything wrong, let me explain….
The problem is not the tourist money, but the fact massive tourism brings higher prices FOR LOCALS as rents go up (it’s more profitable to AirBnB them than rent them at usual prices).
Restaurants raise their prices, even chain restaurants, Because they can….due to the tourist consuming and though, raises the prices for locals going out.
Malls and supermarkets close to tourist attractions raise their prices on basic goods because the tourist influx are willing to pay more… affecting …. The locals.
That’s what the article is about.
Personal example here in Sydney: tipping was never a thing, but thanks to the American tourist customs, it has become something they push around a lot lot more than before.
juanlg1@reddit
Touristification
GuardPlayer4Life@reddit (OP)
I would conjecture that those protesting are not benefitting from your tourism dollars.
The AP Post has more imagery to view HERE
leto78@reddit
The reality is that there are many different kinds of tourism. Cities rarely admit it but their goal is to have tourism that provides as little disruption as possible, and generates most amount of money per tourist. The problem is not with tourism itself but rather the low-cost tourism. These tourists contribute very little to the local economy while being very disruptive with regards to housing, low-cost tourist activities, and the sheer number of tourists in popular areas. A high-end tourist can easily spend 5-10 times more than a low-cost tourist. The other problem that low-cost tourists keep high-end tourists away. It becomes a death spiral of ever reducing revenue per tourist, while creating maximum impact on the local population.
So, the reality is that these places are saying not saying not to tourists, but rather to "cheap-ass tourists".
OsgrobioPrubeta@reddit
Wrong, richer tourist drive prices up even more, on touristic areas and surroundings.
Limitations and balance is the key, not only for the most mentioned aspects, but others like local and national population access to touristic places, museums, historical places, art. Add the environmental, direct and indirect.
Even ricj foreign retirees learned to profit by buying houses and rent them.