, has announced it will bar apartment rentals to tourists by 2028, an unexpectedly drastic move as it seeks to rein in soaring housing costs and make the city livable for residents.would scrap the licences of the 10,101 apartments currently approved as short-term rentals.
Banners reading ‘No tourist flats’ hang from a balcony in the Barcelona neighbourhood of Barceloneta.Spain’s Socialist housing minister, Isabel Rodriguez, said she supported Barcelona’s decision. “Collboni is making a mistake that will lead to poverty and unemployment,” Barcelona’s tourist apartments association Apartur said in a statement, adding the ban would trigger a rise in illegal tourist apartments.
No new tourist apartments have been allowed in the city in recent years. The local government had ordered the shutting of 9,700 illegal tourist apartments since 2016 and close to 3,500 apartments had been recovered to be used as primary housing for local residents, it said.