Travel, the mayor of Barcelona's announcement: by 2028 all tourist accommodation in the city will be eliminated

Eliminating the presence of flats intended for tourist use in 2028, making them available again on the residential market: this is the objective of the mayor of Barcelona, one of the most popular cities for tourists. "From 2029, there will be no tourist flats in Barcelona as we know them today," said Socialist mayor Jaume Collboni, who announced a plan for housing policies in the Catalan capital.

Collboni justified his decision by explaining that short tourist rentals generate an unsustainable impact on the prices of the entire real estate market: in ten years, he pointed out, rental prices have risen by almost 70 per cent and those of properties for sale by almost 40 per cent. 'We cannot allow the majority of young people who want to leave their family home to have to leave Barcelona,' Collboni added. "The situation will not change overnight, these problems take time. But with this measure we mark a turning point,' he also said, pointing out that there will be around 10,000 houses returning to the residential market. The number corresponds to the tourist rental licences in force after the freeze decided in 2014.

According to the municipality, the licences for tourist flats, which were renewed for five years in November, will expire in November 2028 and will not be renewed. Barcelona wants to make use of a decree approved last year by the regional parliament of Catalonia, which regulates the number of properties licensed for tourist use in cities with the highest real estate pressure.

In 2022, according to data from the Barcelona tourism observatory, there were 2.362 million tourists staying in tourist flats in the city, an increase of 87.1% over the previous year. The Autonomous Community of Catalonia remains the favourite destination for international tourists: more than 18 million visitors, 21.2% more than in 2022.

This is not the only action to curb the influx of tourists that the mayor is working on. In the past few days, Collboni had announced that discussions are underway with the port authorities to introduce measures to 'manage, control, or limit' cruise ship landings in the city. "We have to limit and reduce the number of people arriving on cruises," he had said at a press conference, because "we are reaching the limit and we cannot cope with annual increases of 8%". In 2023, more than 3.5 million cruise passengers will pass through Barcelona.