30 Jan 2017
Overflowing Barcelona introduces new law to reduce surging tourism numbers
BY Tom Anstey
Barcelona is introducing new legislation to curb tourism numbers after its mayor said the Spanish city was being overwhelmed by tourists, with the destination on the brink of “reaching a tipping point”.
The city, which is home to around 1.6 million people, welcomed around 32 million visitors in 2016, meaning tourists outnumber residents at around 20 tourists to every one resident.
The new law, introduced by mayor Ada Colau, will curb these figures, with tourist numbers in Barcelona more than quadrupling since 1990 – becoming the third-most visited destination in Europe.
Known as the special urban plan for tourist accommodation, the new law will limit the number of beds on offer in the city from both hotels and tourist apartments. The ruling will temporarily prohibit the building of new hotels and will also stop the issuing of licenses to run tourist apartments.
Tourism has been a success for the city, with visitors contributing more than €12bn (US$12.8bn, £10.2bn) to the local economy annually, supporting an estimated 100,000 jobs. The city currently offers 75,000 hotel beds and a further 50,000 beds in tourist apartments.
Residents have complained about this tourism influx thanks to constant noise problems, illegal tourist flats – thought to account for a further 50,000 beds – and rising real estate costs, which has caused some friction between them and Barcelona’s visitors.
With a number of projects already in the works, the new ruling is not likely to have an impact before 2019. Tourism and hotel representatives have opposed the ruling, claiming the law “demonises tourists”, adding that it would damage Barcelona’s economy, which relies on tourism for around 12 per cent of its annual GDP.
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