Tourists love Barcelona. But Barcelona does not always love tourists.
The Spanish city has announced plans to ban apartment rentals for tourists in November 2028. The ban is part of a campaign to manage rental costs, which have surged nearly 70 percent over the past decade.
Barcelona's tourism sector is booming, but officials say locals are paying a heavy price for its success. /Nacho Doce/Reuters
Mayor Jaume Collboni says more than 10,000 apartments are listed as short-term rentals. Collboni believes housing costs are so high because supply is limited. He's hoping that will change when the ban takes effect.
"Those 10,000 apartments will be used by the city's residents, or they will go on the market for rent or sale," says Collboni.
Housing minister Isabel Rodriguez backed the move, tweeting that "it's about making all the necessary efforts to guarantee access to affordable housing."
But not everyone approves. Barcelona's tourist apartments association released a statement saying the decision was "a mistake that will lead to higher poverty and unemployment." The association also warned that the ban would spark an increase in the number of illegal tourist apartments.
Meanwhile, Barcelona's local government is promising tough action, saying it will continue to clamp down on illegal activity once the ban comes into force. It says it's closed 9,700 unlicensed tourist apartments over the past eight years. It also claims it helped bring 3,500 properties back into the housing market.
Figures from Spain's tourism ministry show that the sector is booming. A record 85 million foreign visitors made a trip to the country last year. They bought goods and services worth nearly $118 billion - almost 75 percent more than tourists spent in France over the same period.
A man displays a protest banner reading 'No more tourist flats' after officials allowed a Barcelona apartment block to be used by tourists. /Albert Gea/Reuters
Spain's tourism agency, Turespana, says the industry is also boosting the jobs market. It says tourism created one out of every four new jobs in the first three months of this year.
Collboni has suggested that his government will relax rules that stopped developers from building new hotels in Barcelona. But he's warned that the city can't afford to put tourism before everything else.
He says the ban shows that his government is serious about the needs of locals: "We are confronting what we believe is Barcelona's largest problem."
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