Barcelona calls Airbnb’s offer to limit apartment rentals “a mockery”

But the city’s reply has been swift and scathing.

“This is a mockery. Airbnb is making a mistake, it is not possible to advertise unlicensed apartments. We’ve already said that we will crack down on illegal tourist accommodation,” said Agustí Colom, head of the Barcelona department of tourism.

Airbnb admits that Barcelona poses greater challenges than other cities

Ciutat Vella comprises four of the city’s most popular neighborhoods for tourists, including Barceloneta, El Raval and Barri Gòtic. In some of these, half of the residential buildings contain apartments being used for tourist rentals – a practice that authorities say pushes up prices and creates other problems for permanent residents.

The US-based homesharing company has 4,500 apartments listed in the area. Robinson said that only licensed professionals will be allowed to advertise more than one apartment, and that this restriction could be extended beyond the district of Ciutat Vella in future.

The company representative also offered the local executive, which is headed by the leftist mayor Ada Colau, the option of collecting the tourist tax, which would bring city coffers an additional €6 million a year.

But the Colau administration has repeatedly rejected this offer because it would be tantamount to legitimizing what it sees as Airbnb’s illegal practices. Only platforms advertising legal rentals will be allowed to collect this tax, said tourism chief Colom.

Airbnb, which insists that it has reached deals with 300 governments and cities all over the world, admits that Barcelona “poses greater challenges than other cities.”

“We share a desire to have a responsible, sustainable kind of tourism in Barcelona, and we are convinced that we are part of the solution,” said Robinson and Ángel Mesado, head of institutional relations for Spain.

A pledge to curb tourism

Ada Colau, a social activist with no prior experience in politics, won the May 2015 mayoral election on a promise to create a balance between tourism industry growth and quality of life for the locals. Warning that Barcelona did not want to end up like Venice, she introduced a temporary moratorium on new licenses for tourism accommodation shortly after taking office.

Barcelona received over eight million tourists in 2015, in a city with a population of 1.6 million.

Tourist accommodation in the city has been growing at an exponential rate that not even the economic crisis was able to slow down: from 23,719 hotel beds in 1991 to 69,128 in 2013.

English version by Susana Urra.