The owners of tourist apartments in Barcelona are demanding more than €4.2 billion in compensation over plans to scrap such accommodation by the end of 2028, a sector body said on Tuesday.
Barcelona is a focus of growing concern about over-tourism in Spain, the world’s second most-visited country, with angry locals complaining that short-term rentals for visitors have made housing unaffordable. ALSO READ: Lack of affordable housing and threat of mass tenants’ strike puts pressure on Spanish government.
Barcelona’s socialist (PSC) mayor Jaume Collboni announced back in June his intention to do away with tourist apartments by not issuing or renewing licences for such housing when the existing permits expire by November 2028. ALSO READ: Barcelona wants to revoke all city’s 10,101 tourist apartment licences by Nov 2028.
Apartur, which represents management companies and individual owners of tourist flats, in a statement called the measure ‘a covert expropriation’.
The claims have been presented before the regional government ofCatalonia, and concern 7,200 apartments, it added.
The money demanded takes into account investments and spending by owners in the past five years and the expected return if their activity continued, Apartur said.
If the regional government fails to respond to the demand within six months, Apartur can begin legal action.
Announcing his plan, Collboni invoked a decree approved last year by the Catalan regional authority which regulates the number of tourist apartments in municipalities with the greatest housing market stress.
Owners have reacted furiously and say the roughly 10,000 tourist apartments represent only 1% of Barcelona’s housing stock.
‘Regulated tourist apartments are not the cause of the housing problem and their elimination will not guarantee they become residential homes,’ Apartur president Enrique Alcántara said in the statement.
The lucrative tourism industry represents around 13% of Spain’s economy, with Barcelona receiving around 170,000 visitors on average every day, according to municipal estimates.
But it has also fuelled concern about meeting the needs of locals and protests against tourism’s unbridled expansion have been held across the country.
ALSO READ: Tourists in Barcelona sprayed with water pistols, as 2,800 protest against mass tourism.
ALSO READ: Spanish government to limit short-term rentals and tourist flats to address housing crisis.
Sign up for the FREE Weekly Newsletter from Spain in English.
Please support Spain in English with a donation.
Click here to get your business activity or services listed on our DIRECTORY.
Click here for further details on how to ADVERTISE with us.
