Fight against mass tourism Barcelona abolishes all vacation rentals
Barcelona is abolishing the possibility of renting out vacation apartments in the city. The city council is doing this by not renewing the necessary licenses. From 2029, there will be no more vacation rentals.
21.06.2024, 14:39
21.06.2024, 17:07
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- Barcelona City Council is canceling all vacation apartments.
- Mayor Jaume Collboni has announced that all licenses to rent out vacation apartments will have expired or been revoked by 2029.
- With this measure, Barcelona's city council is fighting the sharp rise in rents and house prices.
- The locals and their government see tourism as the main driver of prices.
In the fight against the housing shortage, Barcelona wants to abolish the rental of vacation apartments by the end of 2028. All apartments that are currently legally rented out to tourists for short-term stays would then be able to be used 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 that will allow us to put 10,000 homes on the rental or sales market," he said. This will be "the equivalent of building 10,000 apartments", he emphasized.
The mayor pointed out that rental prices in the Catalan capital had risen by almost 70 percent in the last ten years and purchase prices by around 40 percent. The city council therefore felt compelled to take drastic measures by decree in order to guarantee access to affordable housing. The existing licenses will no longer be renewed once they expire.
Young people can no longer find housing
"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."
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.
However, the city council not only wants to create additional living space by reducing tourism, writes "theolivepress.com". It will also pass a law that obliges developers to dedicate at least 30 percent of new apartments to social housing.
The increased supply should lower prices and rents for apartments and allow more locals to live in Barcelona again.
