A banner reading "No tourist flats" hangs from a balcony in a protest against holiday rental apartments in Barcelona's Barceloneta neighbourhood in November 2016.
The government will investigate listings on platforms such as Airbnb and Booking.com to verify if they have licences, consumer rights minister Pablo Bustinduy said. Barcelona's mayor, Jaume Collboni, cited a 68% rise in rent prices in the past decade as one reason for his recently-announced plan to phase out all short-term lets in the city by 2028.
Residents of Barcelona, the Canary Islands and Malaga have all staged protests against the rise in tourist rentals in recent weeks. In these tourism hot spots, seasonal hospitality workers struggle to find accommodation, with many resorting to sleeping in caravans or even their cars.