A tourist hotspot has announced a drastic change to holiday rentals and this one is definitely going to change how Brits live it up in the sun.
That’s because the popular city is set to ban tourists from renting apartments after costs for locals soared.
Hoping to be successful by 2028, the city is backed by its mayor who is set on changing the way tourism operates in the area.
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In a bid to ‘confront the area’s largest problem', Barcelona has a plan to cancel 10,101 licences of apartments which are already approved as short-term rental properties.
Dubbed the ‘largest problem’ due to thousands of online listings showcasing its many available holiday rentals, Barcelona has been overwhelmed by its tourism.
According to Statista, the city housed around 7.8 million travellers in 2023, which is an insane number of people.
However, there is a downside to booming tourism and that’s the cost it brings to those who live there.
The locals have faced costs rising to around 68 percent within the last decade and if you thought buying a home would be an easy alternative, that’s also raised by 38 percent.
To address this issue, Mayor Jaume Collboni said: “Those 10,000 apartments will be used by the city’s residents or will go on the market for rent or sale.”
Even choosing to stay in an Airbnb as opposed to a rented apartment in the city will be difficult for tourists too as more and more restrictions are being placed on rental sites.
The new housing scheme aims to provide councils with the right data which will allow them to see all of the short-term rentals in the area to stamp out any ‘problematic’ behaviour.
If the let is found to be in breach of the regulations, local officials could take action against those they believe are to blame.
It seems as though Barcelona just isn’t in the mood to deal with tourists as it introduced an increase in tourist tax last year with plans to increase it to 4 euros per night, which will need to be factored in on top of accommodation prices.
With no current set date as to when this will come into effect, it’s a watch and wait game to see what happens in the city next.
Britt Jones