Spain: Barcelona is set to introduce a ban on all short-term rentals for tourists in the city by late 2028, according to mayor Jaume Collboni of the leftist Socialists’ Party of Catalonia.
From November 2028, Barcelona will no longer give new licences and revoke existing ones that allow apartment owners to rent out their accommodation to tourists, as announced by Collboni at a press conference on Friday. It is believed that there are currently just over 10,000 properties that are registered to be rented out to tourists in Barcelona.
Collboni said that the measure would mark a “turning point” for Barcelona as the city government seeks to increase housing supply and address the shortage in affordable housing for citizens, as well as “skyrocketing rental prices that are becoming more expensive every day”.
A law already restricts tourists from renting out individual rooms in Barcelona but the new measure will apply to entire homes / apartments. The Barcelona mayor has indicated that this is in response to the fact that rents in the city have risen by 68 per cent over the past ten years, while the cost of buying a house has also increased by 38 per cent over the same period.
The local government has introduced increasingly stringent legislation affecting the short-term rental sector in recent years, including shutting down 9,700 apartments that were being illegally rented out to tourists since 2016.
Isabel Rodriguez, the Socialist housing minister for Spain, threw her support behind the local government’s announcement on X [formerly Twitter]: “It is about making all the necessary efforts to guarantee access to affordable housing.”
In contrast, Apartur, the Barcelona Association of Tourist Apartments, said that Collboni was “making a mistake that will lead to [higher] poverty and unemployment”, as well as a rise in illegal renting of tourist apartments.
Other cities in mainland Spain and the Spanish islands have recently made headlines too for their stances on holiday rentals and perceived “mass tourism”.
In April, Madrid City Council announced a temporary suspension on granting new holiday rental licences in the capital with immediate effect – a suspension which is set to hold until 2025.
In a press briefing, José Luis Martínez-Almeida, the mayor of Madrid, said that the suspension would take place “with immediate effect”, while the city works on the approval of a modification to the General Plan of Urban Development of Madrid, which is being led by Borja Carabante, Madrid City Council’s delegate for Urban Planning, Environment and Mobility.
The goal of the General Plan is to “confront” issues around housing in Madrid, while at the same time “balancing the accommodation market in the city” to avoid “residential desertification”.
Meanwhile, a draft law is currently being prepared in the Canary Islands archipelago which would ban new-build properties from the short-term rental market.
Exceltur, the main Spanish tourism lobby, which endorsed the draft law in the Canary Islands, recently published a study highlighting how short-term rental listings in the 25 biggest cities in Spain increased by a quarter between January and March this year.
Other responses to the announcement in Barcelona include:
Javier Delgado, managing partner and CEO EMEA of Mirai, said: “In our opinion, the main driver for this colossal increase of STR supply springs from the lack of clear regulations. We have seen varying levels of tolerance to this phenomenon across the globe. A total ban of STR does not appear to be reasonable as there is a substantial market that needs and expects this kind of lodging.
“With a clear regulation that ensures safety and security to the guests, plus a sustainable and reasonable quota of STR units rooms per local citizen and a sustainable tax scheme, there should be “room for everyone” in all cities.
“The current situation with unclear legislation and illegal / unregulated supply increasing exponentially creates an unbalanced and unfair ecosystem for the lodging industry, plus a negative effect in local communities.
“The ideal solution would be a European regulation that provides clear rules and restrictions ensuring sustainability and fairness. In any case we must acknowledge that this is easy to say and difficult to do,” he added.
Vanessa de Souza Lage, founder of short-term rental sustainability certification provider Sustonica, said: “The proposed ban on short-term rentals in Barcelona will have significant long-term negative consequences that the current government is overlooking. STRs are essential for dispersing tourism throughout the city. For instance, my neighbourhood, which has no hotels, benefits from STRs bringing in visitors. Overcrowding is mainly an issue in areas densely populated with hotels, whereas many other neighbourhoods in Barcelona would welcome more tourists.
“Furthermore, STR travellers contribute to more sustainable tourism. They tend to spend their money locally, directly supporting the community. This includes local flat owners, cleaners, agencies, and nearby merchants. Because travellers cook in the accommodation, they are more likely to shop at local markets, buy local produce and therefore directly contribute to the local economy. This local spending boosts the neighbourhood’s economy, creating jobs and fostering economic resilience. In contrast, tourists staying in chain hotels typically channel their spending through international corporations, with much of the revenue leaving the local economy.
“By supporting STRs, we encourage a more equitable distribution of tourism’s economic benefits and promote a more sustainable and locally integrated model of tourism. This approach not only strengthens the local economy but also enhances the visitor experience by fostering genuine connections with the community. For these reasons, cities, and specifically Barcelona, should not ban STRs,” she added.
Carlos Cendra, director of marketing & communications at travel data intelligence provider Mabrian, said: “Gaining reliable data on what is actually going on in any city is almost impossible when compared to say data on hotels or airlines: given the extremely fragmented nature of supply, the fact that there are undoubtedly many semi legal and even illegal rentals happening [meaning no data], the highly politicised nature of the debate, and that this is a relatively new segment of travel.
“However, the number of short-term rentals in Barcelona on Airbnb in March, for example, was around 15,600 properties with 54,000 rooms – that means that just on Airbnb, not the only source of supply, there are 50 per cent more properties than there are officially registered in the city.
“Three years ago, we created a specific indicator around accommodation density, adding hotels and short-term rentals, to measure the tourist pressure and will continue to do so in relation to this development,” he added.
Stay tuned for more reaction on STRz throughout the week.
