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Writer's pictureIndia Eyears
Oct 22 min read

Tourism: Economic Catalyst or Invasion?

“Tourists go home” 

Protestors march through the streets of Barcelona




Picturesque beaches, a rich culinary landscape and iconic architectural wonders await in Barcelona. From the Basílica de la Sagrada Família to the historic streets of the Gothic Quarter, the city is infused with a rich cultural heritage. In July of this year, 3,000 protestors took to the streets of Barcelona calling for tourists to leave their city.


Annually, around 32 million visitors enter Barcelona each year. Through the perspective of anti-tourism protesters, the quality of life for the residents is under threat from ‘Overtourism’. Put simply, ‘Overtourism’ collectively labels the negative outcomes associated with too many visitors in a place at one time. Pertinent to the economic landscape of Barcelona is the influence of tourism on house prices. Over the past 10 years, rents in Barcelona have risen by 68%. As home prices continue to surge, the long-term viability of short-term rentals, such as Airbnb, has been called into question. 


Despite outcries against rising unaffordability, the protest slogan ‘tourists go home’ often fails to gain sympathy on social media platforms, where online comments frequently argue that tourism is essential to Barcelona’s economic welfare. In fact, 14% of the city’s GDP and over 150,000 jobs are tied to the tourism industry. However, these figures have not prevented Jaume Callboni, the mayor of Barcelona from announcing his plan to remove all licences for short term tourist rentals in the city by late 2028. 


The nature of Callboni’s mission, labelled by some as ‘drastic,’ beckons curiosity about the potential efficacy of the policy and its impacts on the local community. Employing the case study of New York where restrictions have been recently implemented on short-term rental properties, the Harvard Business Review explored the impacts of rental bans on the housing and tourism markets. In the case of New York, the authors found that the effect of the short-term rental market on long-term rental increases is concentrated among high-income earners and does not disproportionately burden financially vulnerable households. Furthermore, The Harvard Business Review concludes that both hosts and travellers are the winners of unrestricted short-term rental properties. For tourists, short-term rentals provide unique locations and amenities that are not commonplace in the hotel industry. Hosts, on the other hand, benefit from the flexibility of renting their properties for short periods, reaping financial rewards.


While the outcomes of any policy cannot be predicted with complete confidence, the impact of the short-term tourism rental licence ban in Barcelona will be of interest to many stakeholders in cities affected by ‘Overtourism’, should the mayor manage to triumph over the predicted judicial battles.


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