Barcelona, one of Europe’s most visited cities, said on Friday it plans to ban renting apartments to tourists by 2029 to reduce homelessness in Spain’s second-largest city.
Permits for the 10,101 apartments currently approved as short-term rentals and available on platforms such as Airbnb and Homeaway will not be renewed when they expire in November 2028, Barcelona’s leftist mayor Jaume Collboni told a news conference.
“The city cannot allow such a large number of apartments to be used for tourist activity at a time of difficult access to housing and when the negative effects of tourist overcrowding are evident,” he added.
This means that “from 2029”, if there are no setbacks, “tourist apartments as we understand them today will disappear from the city of Barcelona”.
Cities such as Berlin, Paris and Barcelona say home-sharing sites for tourists are depriving locals of long-term rental apartments and driving up prices for homes that remain on the market.
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Collboni said the boom in short-term rentals in Barcelona has helped drive up rents by 68% in the city and the cost of buying a home by 38%.
“We are facing what we believe is Barcelona’s biggest problem,” he said.
His predecessor, former housing activist Ada Colau, suspended new licenses for tourist apartments and banned new hotels from opening in the city’s most popular areas as part of efforts to curb overtourism.
But that hasn’t stopped the number of visitors to the city, known for its Belle Epoque architecture, museums and beaches, from continuing to grow, especially after the lifting of pandemic travel restrictions.
Several local clubs called for a demonstration on July 6 with the slogan: “Enough! Let’s put an end to tourism!”.
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The rally follows other similar protests that have taken place in recent months in other Spanish tourist spots such as the Canary Islands and Palma de Mallorca.
Source: AFP