Barcelona to halt licences for new tourist accommodations

BARCELONA’S Mayor Ada Colau announced last week that the city will not grant a single new licence for tourist accommodation during the next year.

Colau made the decision in order to stop excessive numbers of tourists having a negative impact on the city’s residents.

Tourist accommodations include all establishments that offer beds to visitors: hotels, hostels, B&Bs, and rental properties.

The widely anticipated move comes in response to concerns about how Barcelona’s immense quantities of tourists make it difficult for the city’s residents to go about their everyday lives.

About 7.5 million tourists visit Barcelona annually, making the city of 1.6 million residents the most visited city in Spain and the fourth most visited city in Europe.

Colau had previously stated that something needed to be done to limit tourism in order to ‘stop Barcelona from becoming Venice’.