Government wants new rules on tourist accommodation

With tensions over the impact of tourism mounting this summer, the Catalan government is aiming to regulate the rental of residential accommodation for tourist use. The executive is looking at creating a ‘home sharing’ designation for private accommodation leased to visitors, which will have to meet certain requirements, such as registering the occupants of the property during their stay, the maximum number of places in the dwelling and inclusion on Catalonia’s Register of Tourism. According to sources in the Ministry of Business and Knowledge, the rental of this accommodation would only be allowed for short periods but without any annual limitation.

The initiative is the executive’s response to the growth in unlicensed tourist accommodation through online services, such as Airbnb and HomeAway. It is also one of the conclusions of a government report on the sharing economy due to be presented at the end of August or the beginning of September. The increase in short-term vacation rentals through online operators is having a major impact on the local tourist sector, with around 40% of Barcelona’s 16,000 holiday apartments rented out illegally by sites such as Airbnb, according to city council figures.