Golden hordes or mere barbarians? Discourses on tourism, touristification, and tourismophobia in Madrid's Lavapiés neighborhood

Like much of Madrid, the neighborhood of Lavapiés has in recent years experienced explosive growth in tourism. In this context, critical discourses are beginning to appear in the press, especially in terms of the development model based on new types of accommodation and technologies that directly connect suppliers to consumers. To counter these discourses, we explore other narratives in defense of this model, which are committed to its development. Our investigation considers whether these discursive constructions are competing for hegemony and, consequently, the ability to shape future scenarios, and to influence the neighborhood’s social and geographical aspects. To this end, a mixed-discourse analysis methodology that embraces both quantitative (Corpus Linguistics) and qualitative (Critical Discourse Analysis) tools has been selected. Our conclusions are that a discursive competition for redefining the terms of the debate around tourism is currently at play in Lavapiés, albeit in an incipient state; and that this debate is impacting the perceived image and reality of this area of central Madrid