The overtourism movement appears to be spreading across mainland Spain, with tensions now flaring in Valencia.
Valencia, the country’s third most populated city, has seen tensions rise over the growing number of holiday apartments and expensive rentals, putting pressure on local facilities.
Now in an effort to curb overtourism, the Spanish city is set to impose fines of up to €600,000 on unlicensed and black-market short-term rentals and Airbnb-style apartments.
As of April 15 this year, there were 9,128 active Airbnb listings, according to Airbtics. Some of the Valencia neighbourhoods seeing the most demand for short-term rentals are Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias, La Lonja de la Seda, and Valencia Cathedral.
This comes after Barcelona set a date for the end of the 10,101 licensed tourist flats in the Catalan capital.
Mayor Jaume Collboni announced that short-term tourists cannot rent in Barcelona unless they have the right type of tourist rental licence issued by the city government and no more licences will be granted or renewed, which means that legal tourist rentals will have gone from the city by November 2028 when the last licences expire.
During 2023, some 85.3 million tourists from other countries visited Spain, including 17.3 million holidaymakers from the UK. As a result, the Southern European nation is the world’s second most-visited country after France.
Over the past few months, the Spanish city has seen a surge in black market rentals. In response, Nuria Montes, a Valencia tourism official’ said they “cannot allow any kind of underground economy in accommodation”.
Speaking to the Financial Times, she said: “They escape any type of control. Obviously, they don’t pay taxes. We don’t know whether the owners are fulfilling their obligations to their workers.
“But the main thing is safety. They don’t comply with the obligation to communicate the identity of clients to the authorities. We don’t know if they follow the rules for fires, emergencies, evacuation plans.”
Meanwhile, neighbourhood groups in Valencia have expressed frustration, with some resorting to graffiti spelling the city is “not for sale” as a form of protest against the proliferation of tourist accommodations.
The hotel industry has also voiced concerns over the lack of regulation and oversight in the tourism sector. Hotel employers criticise the unchecked growth of tourist accommodations, warning of its adverse effects on housing accessibility and urban coexistence.
The tensions come amid broader discontent over the city’s transformation due to tourism. Housing rights groups have revived protests against the commodification of Valencia, echoing the sentiment of the ‘Valencia is not for sale’ movement, which demanded a shift in the city’s development model.
