PwC study: Banning tourist flats in Barcelona could cost €1.9bn and 40,000 jobs

Banning tourist flats in Barcelona could lead to the loss of €1.9 billion in GDP and around 40,000 jobs, according to a study by consultancy firm PwC.

"For each visitor, €665 is generated" towards the city's economy, said Anna Merino, a Barcelona-based partner at the company.

Presenting the report on Wednesday, Merino highlighted the fact that the allocation of new tourist accommodation licenses has been "frozen" in the Catalan capital for ten years, but that in districts such as Eixample and Sant Martí rent has increased by 82% during the decade, from 2014 to 2023.

For this reason, she said there was "no significant relationship" between tourist flats and rental prices.

In June 2024, Barcelona mayor Jaume Collboni announced plans to remove all 10,101 tourist apartments in the city by November 2028.

Report

The PwC report, made at the request of the Barcelona Tourist Apartments Association (Apartur), found that banning tourist flats would have "a direct impact of €551 million, an indirect impact of €1.06 billion and an induced impact of €314 million" on local GDP.

Merino said that "the salaries of 40,000 people are paid" via tourist apartment use, and that "for one tourist apartment, 4.4 jobs are generated in the economy as a whole."

The economist said that doing away with the nearly 10,000 tourist flats in the city would also mean giving up €58 million in tourist tax, according to data from Barcelona City Council for 2023.

Rent hikes

Merino said there was "no single cause" for the rise in rent prices in the city and insisted that it was very difficult to link rent increases with tourist flats. 

She pointed out that rents have increased by 72% on average in Barcelona between 2014 and 2023, a period in which the supply of this type of tourist accommodation has not grown.

Council rejects study

Barcelona City Council rejected the study and responded to Apartur by claiming that eliminating tourist apartments, as it plans to do by 2028, will in fact generate economic activity.

This was stated by the council's housing commissioner, Joan Ramon Riera, in comments to the media after the tourist apartment association presented the PwC report.

Riera said they were convinced that converting the 10,000 tourist flats to residential housing once their licenses expire will boost the economy, citing the estimated 25,000 people expected to live in the properties.