For plenty of travellers, booking a short-term rental like an Airbnb is a way to save some money on an overseas trip. But tourists looking to visit the major European hotspot of Barcelona may be out of luck, as the city's mayor looks at banning short-term rentals from 2029. Mayor Jaume Collboni said the Mediterranean city will stop giving new licences and won't renew existing ones so that by 2029, no homes will have permission to be rented as tourist accommodation.
READ MORE: Barcelona on a budget: The best free things to do The plan aims to try to control "skyrocketing rental prices" for locals living in the Spanish city. "More supply of housing is needed, and the measures we're presenting today are to provide more supply so that the working middle class does not have to leave the city because they can't afford housing," Collboni said. "This measure will not change the situation from one day to the next.
These problems take time. But with this measure we are marking a turning point." READ MORE: It only took me three days to be convinced that a campervan is the ultimate holiday In 2023, the city was visited by 16 million tourists, according to the Barcelona Tourism Observatory.
Meanwhile, rent prices per square metre increased 14 per cent in the 12 months through April, according to property listings website Idealista . There are currently close to 10,000 tourist apartments in the Catalan capital. READ MORE: Top 10 reasons Aussies are 'scared' of travelling The an.
