Within the next five years Barcelona aims to remove Airbnb accommodation in the city.
The Municipality of Barcelona is not going to renew existing licences it previously granted for short-term rentals advertised on platforms such as Airbnb. The aim is to abolish short-term rentals in the city by the end of 2028.
Permits have been granted to 10,101 apartments and will not be renewed when they expire in November 2028, Barcelona’s socialist mayor, Jaume Collboni confirmed at a press conference.
The city cannot allow such a large number of apartments to be used for tourist activity as the problem of affordable housing worsens in the city.
Collboni said that the ban on Barcelona Airbnb style accommodation will mean that those 10,101 apartments will go back on the market for long-term rental in Barcelona. 
Collboni pointed out that the Airbnb boom in Barcelona has contributed to a 68% increase in rents over the last 10 years, while the cost of buying a house has risen by 38%.
“We are tackling what we believe is Barcelona’s biggest problem,” he said.
His right-wing political opponents have accused him of undermining property rights. Others, of left-wing persuasion, said the measures would take effect five years too late for the city, in which many residents are being forced out because of increasingly expensive rents.
His predecessor, former housing activist Ada Colau, suspended the issuing of new permits for tourist apartments and banned the opening of new hotels in the city’s most popular areas as part of actions to curb over-tourism.
Several local associations called for a demonstration on 6 July under the slogan: “Enough! Let’s put an end to tourism!”
The demonstration will follow other similar demonstrations held in recent months in other Spanish destinations facing the problem of over-tourism, such as the Canary Islands and Palma de Mallorca.
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