‘We’ve had enough – Barcelona can survive without tourists’

MADRID – Barcelona’s ban on holiday apartment rentals for tourists is toothless because it does not include long-term lets favoured by better-off visitors, campaigners to reduce tourism have said.

Jaume Collboni, Barcelona’s Socialist mayor, said on Friday that by November 2028, Barcelona would scrap the licences of the 10,101 apartments that are currently approved as short-term rentals.

Some residents cannot afford apartments and have had to move out after rents rose by 68 per cent in the past decade and the cost of buying a property increased by 38 per cent.

Mr Collboni said access to affordable housing had become a driver of inequality in Barcelona, the most popular city among foreign visitors to Spain.

However, Daniel Pardo, of the Assembly of Neighbourhoods for the Reduction of Tourism (ABDT), said the mayor’s announcement did not mean a ban would happen.

An anti-tourism demonstration in Barcelona earlier this month (Photo: Paco Freire/SOPA Images/LightRocket)

“This was just an announcement. It is up to the Catalan regional government to make the final decision,” he told i.

Since elections in May, no party has taken over the regional government so the authority is in limbo and could face repeat elections in October.

Mr Pardo added: “Also, this announcement does not include longer-term lets, which are used by some well-off tourists to stay for a few months. The mayor’s words only cover short-term lets. Tourists do rent flats for a few months at a time. Look at the America’s Cup.”

Barcelona is hosting the America’s Cup this summer and many of the yachting race teams have been based in the city since last year.

Read Next

Tourism risks permanently damaging Spain, researchers warn

World

Tourism risks permanently damaging Spain, researchers warn

Read More

“We want to find an alternative source of income than tourism for this city. During the pandemic, we saw that Barcelona could survive without tourism,” Mr Pardo added.

About 140 residents’ organisations will stage a major demonstration against tourism in Barcelona on 6 July.

The Catalan Federation of Tourist Apartments (Federatur) said legal flats brought €3 billion (£2.5bn) in annual income and 25,000 jobs for Barcelona. It said it was “radically” opposed to “pirate” flats which were not registered with the council.

Some 16 million tourists visited Barcelona in 2023, according to the Barcelona Tourism Observatory, which has prompted residents to stage protests against what they see as overtourism. The slogan “Tourists go home” has been daubed on walls in popular areas such as Gràcia and Barrio Gòtico, and campaigners have attacked tourist buses in the past.

Residents across Spain are increasingly pushing back against overtourism, with protests held in Mallorca, Ibiza, and other areas this summer.

Meanwhile, campaigners will stage a demonstration on Wednesday in the south-western city of Cádiz outside the flat of María Muñoz, the 88-year-old Spanish pensioner who faced eviction when her flat was threatened with being turned into a tourist apartment.

After a public outcry, Cádiz FC, the local football team, stepped in to buy Mrs Muñoz’s flat and save her from losing the home where she has lived for the past 57 years.

Campaigners want to support other neighbours who could still be evicted from their homes in the El Pópulo neighbourhood.