The Spanish government has initiated a crackdown on homestay app AirBnb and other tourist accommodation as part of efforts to tackle a worsening housing crisis and local fury over unsustainable numbers of tourists.
Spain’s consumer rights ministry said that many of the 65,935 listings on Airbnb did not include a licence number, specify if the owner was an individual or a company, or match official records.
Barcelona has limited the numbers of tourist flats – and hotel prices have soared (Photo: Alexander Spatari/ Getty Images)
However, visitors to Spain should now expect to pay more to stay in increasingly in-demand hotels. Last year Barcelona limited the number of tourist flats to 10,000. Hotel prices in the city continued to rise.
The Catalan capital is the third most expensive place to stay in Spain, after Marbella on the south coast, and the Balearic Islands.
The study of the rental market between 2014-2023 in Barcelona showed that since the city council introduced the moratorium, rental prices in general rose by 72 per cent. The number of tourist lettings only increased by 2.2 per cent to just below 10,000.
Demonstrators in Barcelona, where campaigns have been staged against overtourism (Photo: Emilio Morenatti/ AP)Spain is trying to deal with the combination of a booming tourist sector, which accounts for 13 per cent of GDP, and alleviate a housing crisis.
Campaigners claim that tourist rentals push up the price of rents beyond the reach of local people.
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However, Marian Muro, director general of Apartur, said if Barcelona loses all its tourist flats it will push up the price of hotels.
“There is a populist tide of opinion reigning which says that to get rid of tourist flats you will solve the problem. If they do abolish all these tourist flat licences, then the owners are not obliged to put them on the rental market. What needs to be done is to build more housing.”
The Spanish Hoteliers Confederation said in a report published last month found there was a 1 per cent rise in prices in the first quarter of 2025.
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