The end of Airbnb in Barcelona: what does the tourism industry have to say?

The city's mayor has vowed to rid the Catalonia capital of it's 10,000 tourist apartment licences within the next five years.

Transcript

00:00These beaches packed with tourists have been the root cause of recent protests in the Spanish city of Barcelona.

00:06Residents say a change is needed, but others are worried how this may impact business.

00:30The impact of the protests against mass tourism and the announcement by the mayor of Barcelona

00:34to eliminate the city's 10,000 tourist apartments by 2028, pointing to the problem of housing prices,

00:41has not been well received by the sector.

01:00According to the Barcelona Association of Tourist Apartments, these account for only 0.77% of the city's housing.

01:10They warn that the restriction of licenses could increase the number of illegal apartments

01:14and claim that the measure could cause 40% of the city's tourism to disappear.

01:30The local clientele disappears between the heat and when you go out.

01:33The tourist is basically 50% of our clientele.

01:43I understand that people are a little tired of tourism, but on the other hand, it still makes the city live,

01:47so they need tourism.

01:48I think that if it stops, it is that businesses will open harder,

01:51and I think that's how they're going to lose a lot of things.

01:55Despite everything the tourists we spoke to,

01:58they currently do not feel any type of rejection in the streets of Barcelona.