Barcelona council to house 1,000 vulnerable people in congress venue
City authority also rents 200 tourist apartments for people at risk and opens three centers for homeless
tourist
5G technology now powers augmented reality on Barcelona Tourist Bus
Projections on a transparent screen gives visitors information on landscapes and monuments
Tourist flats not just for big cities as tourists flock to tiny Guardiola de Berguedà
The northern Catalan town of fewer than 900 inhabitants is seeing similar issues as Barcelona and Girona
Ratio of Airbnb apartments in Barcelona one of Europe's highest, says study
Capital has 12 flats for every 1,000 inhabitants, more than Rome and London, finds joint Catalan-Canadian report
Barcelona vies to lead the regulation of tourist rooms
Deputy mayor Janet Sanz underlines “importance” of giving city council regulatory powers from the beginning
Barcelona launches first totally electric tour bus
The bus is silent and can travel 170km after being fully charged
Barcelona Hotel Association threatens to sue over proposed tourist tax increase
Move comes after council decides to ask Parliament to charge visitors up to €4 per day
Barcelona agrees to raise tourist tax up to €4
Visitors could be charged more to spend the night in the city if parliament makes the necessary changes to legislation
Barcelona's mediation service has resolved 238 tourist apartment conflicts in 2019
City council says results are "very satisfactory" while saving on official inspections and police involvement
Girona’s ‘theme park’ city center no place for local neighbors
Affordable housing activists claim locals are being pushed out of their homes, while the Girona city council says there’s no issue
Barcelona has to regulate tourism, says lobby
Increase in council tax for tourist apartments, as well as tourist surcharge, proposed by Barcelona Global
Catalan coastal town attracts Mobile World Congress attendees
70% of hotels in Sitges already booked up for MWC
Tourist apartments expect full house for Mobile World Congress
Event organizers forecast more than 108,000 attendees
Barcelona could introduce a tourist tax from 2017
Visitors coming to Barcelona in 2017 may be levied with a tourist tax. This would be added to the fee Catalonia already applies to people staying in Catalan hotels, camping sites and tourist cottages. The Municipal Commission of Economy and Finance passed on Tuesday a proposal presented by liberal ‘Convergència i Unió’ (CiU) in which the political party asks the local government to consider the application of a tourist tax, fee or public levy. The aim is to balance the costs and benefits of receiving around 30 million visitors each year. The text approved also insists on the necessity of demanding from the Catalan Government the transfer of all the revenue collected from tourists visiting the city, and not just half of it.
Barcelona cracks down on illegal subletting for tourists and closes 256 apartments
The Catalan capital’s action plan against illegal accommodation for tourists resulted in July in the closure of 256 apartments whose activity has been considered illegal, a figure which has to be added to the 112 orders announced in the first half of 2016. Besides ordering the ceasing of their activity, the accommodation websites responsible for the flats, Airbnb and Homeaway, will have to face a 30,000 euros fine for not having the required licence. This has been possible mainly due to the task of the so-called ‘flat scouts’, a figure recently created by Barcelona’s city hall, who have found 234 illegal accommodations, while the official inspectors in charge of this only detected 22. “This is not a summer campaign but an action plan which has come to stay” warned Barcelona’s deputy mayor for Ecology, Urbanism and Mobility, Janet Sanz and emphasised that tourism in Barcelona “is not related to seasons”.