Barcelona is an invented city that reinvents itself every year to give the impression that not everything has been invented yet. Much has been said (and written) and even shouted about whether its tourism model is already exhausted. What can we do to get even more tourists to come, apart from expanding the airport and taking away (a little or a lot) one of the few natural landscapes we have left in the metropolitan area?… Build more hotels?… Where?… Resurrect Gaudí so that he begins to build another one, any building capable of attracting all eyes for the next hundred years?… Well, no, it seems that the solution has been to create the figure of the Daemon, name that receives the so-called “new birthday tourist of Barcelona”, which combines two of the hits of this city: graffiti and bottles.
It is no longer necessary to even refer to low-cost tourism. That debate is now out of fashion. He is banished. Now what is taken are the Daemons. It goes far beyond the idea of ??the guardian angel, the fairy godmother or the patron saint. It is like a protective spirit, what the white-robed, white-bearded ancient Greeks knew as a daemon, who was present on the day of birth and who cared for that person throughout his life. This daemon had a mystical relationship with the god on whose birthday the person was born. Hence, this new trend of coming to Barcelona for tourism to celebrate a suburban birthday is related to this figure and the tourists who opt for this leisure option are now known as Daemons.
The main characteristic of the Daemon tourist is that he does not come to Barcelona attracted by the tourist offer on the surface. That is to say, you will not come to explore the Rambla or the Gòtic, nor to visit the Sagrada Familia or Park Güell. He could have considered concentrating on the Carmel bunkers, but that is now behind him as well. Nor does he come to watch Barça games, much less to become acculturated in a museum. He doesn’t even go for drinks in the Gulf Triangle. And he doesn’t take a plane to attend some of the music festivals on the Barcelona calendar either. No way! Everything that happens in the light of day or in the darkness of night in the streets, squares and monuments of the city does not give a damn to the Daemon tourist. The only thing that interests you (and here is the novelty of the model change) is what can happen underground.
For this reason, the idea of ??Daemon tourism is closely linked to the tradition of the catacombs. Those in Rome and Paris are famous, but, in Barcelona, ??the closest thing they have found is the metro network and the sewage system. Until now, Daemons had remained a bit anonymous, because it was still a nascent tourist phenomenon. But this last week they have already been discovered when a Daemons birthday party made the news. About 70 gathered and, instead of blowing out the candles on the cake, they decided to deface the subway cars and walls. It has been called an act of vandalism, hooliganism, but, in reality, it is an example of the new suburban tourism that is beginning to be implemented in Barcelona after the surface model is exhausted. Another group of Daemons decided to break into the sewers to set up a bottle. Nothing more innovative in terms of tourism than organizing an open bar party in the sewers. Barcelona has done it again. He has known how to reinvent himself… underground.