Barcelona is planning to hire dozens of new inspectors who would help to look into the illegal holiday rentals of this popular holiday destination. The Spanish tourism hub seeks to enforce a licensing regime for people using sites such as Airbnb to let out their property.
Similar to Palma de Mallorca and San Sebastian, Barcelona also faced the tremor of over tourism where the residents are renting flats to tourists and are removing the long-term rentals from the market and pushing up prices.
Today, there are more than 80 inspectors who check up on the local rentals which is expected to go up by 110 by next year, as stated by the head of urban planning.
Janet Sanz said that for now Airbnb is cooperating with local government and has removed 1,000 illegal tourist rentals from its website, however it is clear that there is more work to do.
Around 5,000 to 6,000 unlicensed tourist flats are there in Barcelona. As this capital of the Catalonia region on Spain’s north-eastern Mediterranean coast which attracts millions of holidaymakers every summer, the tourist rentals need to have a proper documentation in order to avoid illegal discrepancies.
Airbnb agreed in July to work with Barcelona to remove listings “that could affect long-term housing availability in Barcelona” as well as commercial operators using the site.
Spain’s Balearic Islands is yet another popular tourist hotspot which is planning to erase the illegal rentals, saying it would fine landlords up to 40,000 Euros for advertising unlicensed accommodation.
More than 83 million international visitors came to Spain in 2017 as the reports of Caixabank Research shows. This is partly due to the troubled socio-political situation at Turkey and Egypt.
