Holiday warning for Brits as mayor of Spanish hotspot to BAN short-term rentals after wave of anti-tourism protests
THE mayor of a major holiday hotspot in Spain has vowed to ban short-term rentals in the latest drastic move against tourists.
Barcelona‘s mayor, Jaume Collboni, said the city will scrap the tourist licences granted to all 10,101 apartments and give them to locals instead.
The call seeks to rein in soaring housing costs and make Barcelona liveable for residents as furious anti-tourist protests have taken Spain by storm.
“We are confronting what we believe is Barcelona’s largest problem,” the leftist mayor told a city government event.
“Those 10,000 apartments will be used by the city’s residents or will go on the market for rent or sale.”
Collboni said on Friday he would ban apartment rentals to tourists by 2028.
The boom in short-term rentals has caused chaos to those living in Barcelona – Spain‘s most visited city by foreign tourists.
It means some residents cannot afford an apartment after rents rose 68 per cent in the past decade, Collboni said.
The cost of buying a house also rose by a whopping 38 per cent and access to housing became a driver of inequality, especially among the young, he added.
Barcelona’s local government said in a statement it would maintain its “strong” inspection regime to detect potential illegal tourist apartments once the ban comes into force.
No new tourist apartments have been allowed in the city in recent years.
The local government has ordered the shutting of 9,700 illegal tourist apartments since 2016 and close to 3,500 apartments have been recovered to be used as primary housing for local residents, it said.
Barcelona’s mayor later wrote on social media: “We want to guarantee the right to live in Barcelona and deal effectively with the housing crisis we have been suffering for years. For this reason, from the town hall, we act.”
Spain’s Socialist housing minister, Isabel Rodriguez, said she supported Barcelona’s decision.
“It’s about making all the necessary efforts to guarantee access to affordable housing,” she posted on X.
Meanwhile, Barcelona’s tourist apartments association APARTUR said the ban would trigger a rise in illegal tourist apartments.
The association added: “Collboni is making a mistake that will lead to [higher] poverty and unemployment.”
Hotels are set to benefit from the move as Collboni signalled he could relax a restriction which banned the opening of new hotels in Barcelona’s popular areas between 2015 and 2023.
The national government relishes the economic benefits of tourism, but the Catalan city’s citizens are bring priced out, with gentrification and over-tourism already hot topics in Spain.
Just last week, anti-tourism zealots stormed an Instagram-famous Majorca beach.
Holidaymakers trying to get an early spot on the sand were barely able to lay down their towels as Spanish cops were forced to turn them away.
Islanders kept their promise to “reclaim” the postcard cove from foreigners by taking up every inch of space on the tiny 130ft stretch of sand with their beach towels.
It comes after riot cops and anti-tourist protesters have gone head-to-head in a violent clash outside a Louis Vuitton fashion show in Barcelona.
Dramatic footage from the scene showed protesters banging pots and screaming in officers’ faces, as police swung at them with batons.
Demonstrators were heard chanting slogans like “Barcelona is not for sale” and accused the local council of “privatising” public spaces.
Anti-tourism protesters plan to bring the Balearic Islands to a standstill during the peak season for British holidaymakers.
Activists hope thousands will join the biggest demonstration yet in the Spanish tourism hotspot on Sunday, July 21 — just as many UK schools break up for summer and families head for the sunshine.
They blame the Spanish government for causing a housing and jobs crisis by sanctioning more hotels and holiday lets — and are calling on islanders from Majorca, Menorca, Ibiza and Formentera to march in their thousands through the streets.
Campaigners previously threatened to block the international airport in Palma by massing cars outside and causing a traffic gridlock.
Protesters expressed fury over the high cost of renting and buying homes on the island, which they say is the result of tourism.
Anti-tourist measures sweeping hotspots
MAJORCA and Barcelona are just some of the European hotspots implementing anti-tourist measures.
Many top holiday destinations across the continent are taking action to prevent unwanted travellers from taking over their towns and cities.
Locals feel they can no longer live in the iconic destinations because they have become overcrowded, unsafe and uncomfortable.
They say there are too many cars on the roads, traffic congestion, overcrowded beaches, blocked access roads, ruined beauty spots and just too many holidaymakers flocking to the island which expects record figures this summer.
In April, thousands of people took to the streets in Tenerife to demand restrictions on holidaymakers after telling Brits to “go home”.
The anti-tourist hordes filled a square in the capital brandishing banners including some that read “You enjoy we suffer” in English.
Protests also took place at the same time on other popular Canary islands including Lanzarote and Gran Canaria.
The marches were organised under the slogan “The Canary Islands have a limit.”
Hotel bosses in Benidorm have even admitted they are “very worried” by the anger growing amongst island residents but branded holiday homes in Spain a “virus”.
More recently, the Committee on Tourism, Trade, Employment, Culture and Sport reportedly approved an initiative to reintroduce a cap on cruise ships to Palma, Majorca’s capital.
Politicians are keen to implement a new set of rules on cruise ships in terms of taxation, the environment or the use of less polluting fuels to lower numbers coming into the Balearics.