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TOURISM

Girona calls for ‘expat census’ as anti-mass tourism sentiment in Spain grows 

The Catalan city of Girona has seen acts of vandalism against cycling businesses and a new neighbourhood association set up to protest against mass tourism and expat “gentrification”, as locals in another city in Spain says it’s “reached its limit”.

Published: 20 May 2024 10:56 CEST
Girona calls for 'expat census' as anti-mass tourism sentiment in Spain grows 
Up to 30 cycling tourism-related businesses have been created in recent years in central Girona. Photo: Eat Sleep Cycle/Pexels

Residents of the beautiful northeastern city of Girona, ‘discovered’ internationally after it appeared in hit TV series Game of Thrones, appear to have had enough of their tourism-driven economic model. 

Neighbours have set up the “Girona Tourism Decrease Platform” (Plataforma Decreixement Turístic Girona) to put pressure on the local government so that it addresses the issues of “overdevelopment” and “gentrification,” and it “abandons the ‘anything goes’ approach to tourism”.

In its manifesto, the group explains how “for years Girona has become a postcard city for tourism, fairs and festivals”, which has been “a death sentence for its neighbourhoods and those who live in them,” while only benefitting “the business of a few people”.

They also denounce the mass arrival of wealthy “expats”, who have allegedly turned parts of the city into “totally elitist ghetto areas with their backs to people’s basic needs.”

This has contributed to “inflation, job insecurity, difficulty in accessing housing, water restrictions and closure of small businesses”, they claim, along with the destruction of local culture and less usage of the Catalan language.

“As a territory, we are at the limit. As citizens, we cannot take it anymore ,” they conclude.

As a result, they propose starting a census of “expats” living in the city. Cities and towns in Spain already have a registration system for all residents called the padrón, so it is unclear which foreigners could be added to this census, although it most likely refers to non-residents as well as residents.

Other measures suggested include locating illegal tourism accommodation in the city, limiting the number of hotel beds, increasing taxes for tourism businesses and in particular dealing with the issue of cycling tourism in Girona. 

According to disgruntled locals, the city has become a “cycling mecca” for professionals and aficionados in recent years, something encouraged by local authorities. 

READ ALSO: Where in Spain do locals ‘hate’ tourists?

From shops selling and renting bikes, to repair stores, travel agencies focusing on bicycle tourism and even specialised bars, the old quarter of Girona is dominated by bikes and cycling-related businesses. 

“Go home” and “enough with mass mass tourism” have been graffitied the façades of seven of these 30+ cycling businesses in Girona in recent days. 

Simmering resentment towards the negative consequences of mass tourism, in particular with regard to the proliferation of holiday lets and their impact on rising rents, has been on the up this year in Spain.

The Canary Islands held mass protests against their tourism model in April, and locals in Málaga, Mallorca and Ibiza have planned demonstrations for similar reasons in May and June.

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PROPERTY

Spain considers banning tourist lets in residential buildings

The Spanish government has announced it's studying the possibility of prohibiting tourist apartments in residential buildings where property owners live.

Published: 25 June 2024 16:44 CEST
Spain considers banning tourist lets in residential buildings

The Minister of Housing and Urban Agenda, Isabel Rodríguez, announced this Tuesday that the Government is studying a reform of the Horizontal Property Law in order to allow property owners to prohibit tourist apartments in their residential buildings.

In Spain, each building has what’s known as a community of neighbours, referred to La Comunidad or Comunidad de Vecinos in Spanish, and essentially the Spanish government is considering giving them veto power over tourist apartments in their buildings.

READ ALSO: ‘La comunidad’: What property owners in Spain need to know about homeowners’ associations

The announcement was stated in an interview on Telecinco, in which Rodríguez stated that this move comes as a consequence of recent supreme court rulings on tourist apartments in Oviedo in Asturias and San Sebastián in the Basque Country.

In the rulings, the magistrates concluded that the rental of housing for tourist use is an economic activity, and agreed that communities of owners in two separate buildings could ban tourist rentals in several apartments.  

“It will be the neighbourhood communities that will also be able to participate in these types of decisions, because this phenomenon, which is not exclusive to our country, affects the entire world and the main capitals in Europe,” explained the minister.

READ ALSO – UPDATE: Which cities in Spain have new restrictions on tourist rentals?

Recently, Rodríguez has criticised that the proliferation of tourist apartments causes problems for locals, that it stops them from being able to access decent housing and raises the price of rentals.

She praised the regions which have taken steps to try and put a stop to this and gave the recent example of Barcelona City Council, which announced last Friday that it would eliminate all tourist apartments by the end of 2028.

She believes this move in Barcelona “will benefit citizens who want to live in their city, who do not want it to be a theme park and who prioritise the right to access housing over economic interests”.

Spain’s Horizontal Property Law , which was modified once in 2019, already states that it “requires a favourable vote of three-fifths of the total number of owners who, in turn, represent three-fifths of the participation quotas”. This means that already owners have a big say in whether tourist licences can be granted to apartments in their buildings.

However, the particular wording of the law has been the subject of much legal controversy and judicial interpretation. The reason is because the wording of the law only mentions the possibility for communities to “limit or condition” tourist use, but they do not have the power to “prohibit” since the law does not expressly say so.

Several regions have their own rulings through regional courts, but this new announcement aims to make it universal across the board in Spain and ensure that there’s no room for misinterpretation.

Rodríguez is set to meet this afternoon with the governing board of the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces (FEMP) and the Housing and Tourism Commissions to address this matter and come to a decision. 

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