Unpopular tourists

Vacation apartments: Barcelona wants a drastic ban

"Tourists, go home", reads the sign of a demonstrator in Barcelona.(Bild: AP/Emilio Morenatti)

In the fight against the housing shortage, Barcelona wants to abolish vacation rentals by the end of 2028. According to the city's political leadership, this would be equivalent to building 10,000 apartments. Enormous price increases would necessitate this drastic step.

All apartments that are currently legally rented out to tourists for short-term stays would then be available for use by residents of the metropolis in north-eastern Spain, Mayor Jaume Collboni told journalists on Friday.

"From 2029, the city of Barcelona will no longer have vacation apartments as we know them today. And this will allow us to put 10,000 homes on the rental or sales market," he said. This will correspond to "the construction of 10,000 apartments", he emphasized.

Enormous price increases
The mayor pointed out that rental prices in the Catalan capital had risen by almost 70 percent and purchase prices by around 40 percent in the last ten years. The city council therefore felt compelled to take drastic measures by decree in order to guarantee access to affordable housing. The existing licenses would not be renewed after expiry.

"We cannot allow the majority of young people who want to leave their parents' home to be forced to leave Barcelona," said the socialist politician. This measure would not end the housing shortage overnight. "These problems take time. But with this measure, we are marking a turning point."

Tourists increasingly unpopular
Resentment towards mass tourism is growing rapidly in Spain. There have recently been major protests in tourist strongholds such as Barcelona, Mallorca and the Canary Islands. There, the increasing number of visitors is blamed in particular for the lack of affordable housing, but also for environmental destruction, traffic jams, overcrowding, price rises and water shortages, as well as for overloading the health sector and waste disposal.