London: Barcelona, a city scrubbed with street art, sandy beach borders, rooftop pools and meandering streets had 9 million tourists staying in its hotels last year.
With its cheap tapas, laid-back beach bars and lazy afternoon lifestyle, the appeal to the 20,000 Australians thought to be in Spain at any one time is obvious.
But tourism is fickle, according to Tim Fairhurst from the European Tour Operations Association, and the numerous terror attacks in France means that country is already feeling the British cold shoulder.
In 2016, trips from Britain to France declined, as they did to other terror-hit destinations such as Turkey and Belgium.
Now Spain, which was until Thursday evening seen as a reliable and safe alternative, has experienced its first terror attack claimed by ISIS, orchestrated in an all too familiar, grim way - a van hurtling into holidaymakers on a busy street.
First it was the Les Promenade des Anglais, then the Berlin night market, Westminster Bridge, London Bridge and now Las Ramblas.
"Spain is currently receiving tourists who might, in another year, have visited other Mediterranean countries," Mr Fairhurst said, speaking before Thursday's attack.
It's the British who make up the bulk of Barcelona's tourists, given the glut of cheap flights to the continent. A round trip from London to Barcelona on Ryanair costs as little as ??40, or $65.
So the sound of a British accent in Spain is a familiar one. And there are more of them there than ever.
In 2016, the number of Britons travelling to Spain reached 14.7 million, a record and a 13 per cent increase in just one year.
But not everyone in Spain is grateful for the influx.
Arran, a youth wing of the radical Popular Unity Candidacy (CUP) party, have begun demonstrating against mass tourism in Catalan, and have released videos showing the tyres of tourist bikes being slashed.
They argue tourism is centred on a capitalist model "that generates benefits for very few people and worsens the living conditions of the vast majority." The movement is small and denounced as radical by political leaders, but is rising.
Anti-tourism graffiti in Barcelona. Photo: Supplied
In Lisbon, Portugal, another holiday hot-spot for the British, the slogan "mass tourism = human pollution" is scrawled on walls throughout the city.
An anti-mass tourism slogan scrawled on a wall in Portugal, Lisbon. Photo: Latika Bourke
Pertinently, in a statement issued before Thursday night's assault on Las Ramblas, he warned that terrorism is a factor when people are deciding where to travel.
"Traveller sentiment is fickle, and it does not take many bad news stories to cause significant displacement," he said.
