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Barcelona aims to keep tourist coaches out by quadrupling parking fee

Authorities in Barcelona continue to look for ways to deal with the Catalan capital's mass tourism problem, with the latest plan aiming to reduce the number of tourist buses in the city centre by charging them a lot more to park.

Published: 18 September 2024 10:47 CEST
Barcelona aims to keep tourist coaches out by quadrupling parking fee
According to data from the council, there are 156,000 coaches driving around in Barcelona every year. (Photo by Pau BARRENA / AFP)

Barcelona economic city councillor Jordi Valls has announced that Barcelona wants tackle the problem of tourist coaches by increasing the price of parking fees for them.

According to municipal data, parking in Barcelona currently has an average price of €20 per day for tourist buses. If the plan is approved, they will have to pay close to €80 instead.

Tourists who do not stay overnight in Barcelona do not usually appear in official figures, but the City Council estimates that they amount to around 10 million a year.

By comparison, annual overnight stays in hotels and tourist apartments in the city are around 12 million.

This mainly includes cruise passengers, but also those who are bused in for the day from other nearby locations.

According to data from the council, there are 156,000 coaches driving around in Barcelona every year, which equals an average of more than 40 per day. This has become a big problem, blocking traffic in some areas of the city, particularly surrounding the Sagrada Família and more recently Ronda Universitat.

The new proposal, dubbed Bus Zone 4.0 by the council, aims to limit the circulation of coaches to 70,000 in 2025 and plans on removing parking spaces for buses in Barcelona’s central areas.

The council wants to raise around €4 million annually from these parking fee increases, as well as discourage them from coming.

The fees must be included in modification of the 2025 tax ordinances, but this will require a majority vote and plenty of negotiations before it can be passed. 

If approved, it will become part of the Catalan government’s Measure for Tourism Management plan, which together a total of 55 measures with a budget of €254.7 million until 2027.

This will include continuing the Management Plan for High Traffic Spaces, which studies how to avoid the overcrowding of areas such as the Rambla or Sagrada Família. In addition, it includes the creation of a Citizen Return Fund for Tourism, the review of the tourist tax and the Special Urban Plan for Tourist Accommodation.

The last part includes the standout plan to get rid of all tourist apartments in Barcelona by 2028. But it also opens the door for unique hotels to open in the centre of the city, which could include more self-catering accommodation.

Barcelona has also recently introduced a new city tax, which will be in force from October.

The current fee is charged for up to seven nights and stands at €3.25 per night, but from October 2024, this will go up to €4 per night.

Tourists will pay this tax regardless of whether they stay in a bed and breakfast, on a cruise ship or at a five-star hotel. On top of this, visitors will also have to pay a regional tax on stays in tourist establishments.

This means that from this autumn, tourists to Barcelona will end up pay between €5 and €7.50 per night.

READ ALSO: Barcelona to crack down on tacky shops that ‘degrade’ city’s image

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PROPERTY

Is buying a property to rent out to tourists in Spain too risky now?

The quick return on investment for buying a holiday let in popular Spanish cities and towns can be very appealing, but there are increasing signs that the money-making scheme could come to an end soon. 

Published: 10 September 2024 10:32 CEST
Is buying a property to rent out to tourists in Spain too risky now?

Regardless of what you think are the causes of Spain’s housing crisis, one thing is clear: short-term holiday lets are up to four times more profitable than long-term rentals. 

Just how remunerative they are can depend on many factors (occupancy rate, location etc), but according to Spanish property portal Housfy, a tourist let provides an average net profit of 15 percent a year.

With this in mind, it’s no surprise that tourist apartments have proliferated across the country: 9.2 percent alone in the last year, which adds up to around 60,000 new ones.

As Spain welcomes more and more tourists (84 million in 2023, a record that looks set to be beaten in 2024), you’d expect the goose that laid the golden eggs to continue plugging away.

However, the simmering resentment from disgruntled residents who blame mass tourism and holiday lets for their spiralling rents does appear to be having an impact. 

OPINION: Spaniards should blame landlords, not tourists

There is currently no outright nationwide ban in Spain on Airbnb-style lets, but a growing number of small towns and big cities have taken action in recent weeks and months. 

From Dénia on the Costa Blanca to Pamplona in the north, municipalities across Spain are introducing temporary moratoriums on new licences for tourism apartments, which should in theory prevent new ones from popping up (there are tens of thousands of unlicensed holiday lets, especially in Madrid). 

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

Barcelona authorities have perhaps taken the toughest approach so far, as their mayor Jaume Collboni actually said there will be no more tourist rental flats in the Catalan city by 2028. 

READ ALSO: Can Barcelona really ban all Airbnbs?

So is it possible to envision a future where holiday lets are not allowed in Spain? And if so, would it be better for small and big investors to ditch plans to buy a Spanish property if the primary purpose of it is to let it out to tourists?

Hatred of holiday lets is on the up in Spain, the world’s second most visited country, prompting authorities to try and reconcile the interests of locals and those invested in this lucrative sector. (Photo by OSCAR DEL POZO / AFP)

Spain’ Housing Minister Isabel Rodríguez has on several occasions hinted at the need to “regulate tourist flats” rather than banning them entirely, although in July she did say “if we need to ban tourist flats, we will; if limiting them is enough, we’ll limit them”.

There’s been talk of legislation to ban holiday lets in residential apartment blocks, as well as putting a stop to temporary accommodation (longer than short-term lets but shorter than long-term rents). 

But in truth, things are moving slowly and the Spanish government appears to be somewhat sitting on the fence regarding restrictive measures, all too happy to pass the buck to the regions and individual town halls. 

There is clearly an awareness of all the vested interests in the holiday let industry, that not all landlords own a dozen properties, and even the legal implications of banning citizens from doing as they please with their assets.

What does seem clear is that city centre properties and those in the popular old quarters of Spanish cities and towns are most likely to be limited by local regulations, at least temporarily.

The same applies to tourist flats in residential buildings, as there is currently an amendment in the pipeline which would give communities of neighbours the power to veto new holiday lets in their blocks. 

Therefore, investors should consider whether properties that fall in these categories are future-proof in terms of short-term letting, and whether they’ll have to swap over to long-term letting at some point.

Spain’s latest Housing Law, which came into force in 2023 and sought to stop long-term rents from increasing, has actually led many landlords to either find loopholes or take their properties off the market. 

READ MORE: Why landlords in Spain leave their flats empt rather than rent long-term

With more demand and less stock, rents have logically continued to increase in 2024.

The legislation has clearly backfired, and with a boost in social housing a very long-term solution, Sánchez’s government may be forced into a corner and have to act vis-à-vis holiday lets if the situation becomes more untenable. 

READ MORE: Has Spain’s Housing Law completely failed to control rents?

A blanket ban is unlikely, as short-term rentals in more rural locations with fewer inhabitants have less of an impact on rents.

But buying a property in Spain in a central or sought-after residential area in Spain (especially in an apartment block) with the sole purpose of letting it out to tourists, now appears to have its risks as a long-term investment.

READ ALSO: VUT, AT or VV? Why Spain’s holiday let categories matter to owners

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