Brits travelling to a popular holiday destination in Spain will now face new rules designed to help ease anger in the country over mass tourism.
Seville, in southern Spain, is one of the go-to cities for Brits travelling to the popular country – but authorities there are now clamping down on Airbnb-style accommodation.
New rules were unveiled this week, restricting the number of apartments that can be rented out in each neighbourhood. Airbnb and other rentals cannot exceed 10 percent of the total homes in a neighborhood under the new rules.
Juan de la Rosa, an Urban Planning delegate, said the plans will help ease frustrations among locals in Seville.
But the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party said the plans should have gone further. The new policy will enable 23,000 licenses for rentals to be granted in areas where there is less tourism demand.
Seville welcomes more than three million tourists each year, making it the third most visited city in the country. Tourism is vital for its economy, however, responsible for 18 percent of its GDP.
This comes amid anti-tourism protests in a number of areas of Spain. Prominent demonstrations have been held in the Balearic Islands as well as Barcelona.
The mayor of Barcelona announced a ban on holiday rentals by November 2028 to try and address the city’s housing crisis.
In June, the city also withdrew 10,000 licenses for tourist rentals, angering those who were renting them out.In Barcelona, angry locals were seen spraying water pistols at tourists eating at a restaurant as they told them all to “go home.”
But Spain’s tourism board still urged tourists to visit, saying: “Spain: the summer you’ll want to repeat every year … We can’t wait to see you!”
International arrivals in Spain has risen again this year. 10.9 million people travelled to Spain in August, up 7 percent year-on-year.
But rental prices are now seeing Spaniards spend more than half of their salaries on rent, the Trade Union Confederation of Comisiones Obreras said.
They added: “Policies that mobilise vacant and tourist housing into rental housing could increase the rental stock by 66 per cent in provincial capitals and cities with more than 50,000 inhabitants.”
On October 20, a series of mass demonstrations are set to be held across the Canary Islands and some cities of mainland Spain, urging a reconsideration of the current tourism model.
Seville has not been earmarked as a location where campaigners will march – but other popular cities such as Barcelona, Madrid and Valencia will be hosting protests.
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