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Barcelona / AFP
Barcelona city hall said on Thursday it would fine home rental websites Airbnb and rival HomeAway 600,000 euros ($635,000) each for marketing lodgings that lacked permits to host tourists.
The fine comes as the popular seaside resort struggles with a rising tide of tourism that has exasperated locals, threatening to drive out poorer residents and spoil the charm of Spain’s second-largest city. In a statement, Barcelona said it had initiated proceedings “that will result in 600,000-euro fines for each of them for the repeat offence of advertising tourist lodgings online” without authorisation.
Under a 2012 regional law, any apartment rented to visitors in Catalonia must be logged in the province’s Tourism Registry and have a permit.
The city council, which is led by former anti-eviction activist Ada Colau, said it had counted 3,812 lodgings on Airbnb and 1,744 on HomeAway that did not have the permit. Colau is working to curb a boom in visitor numbers fearing it could drive out poor residents and spoil the charm of Barcelona, one of Europe’s most popular destinations for short-term holidays.
“It’s not acceptable that there are thousands of flats operating illegally without a permit, without paying taxes and causing problems for the neighbours,” she told Spanish radio on Thursday.
Dark side of tourism
For many years the tourism boom was seen as a success story, but persistent issues with noise, rising real estate prices and illegal tourist flats have led many of the city’s 1.7 million residents to draw battle lines against the never-ending tide of visitors.
The issue was thrust into the spotlight in August 2014 when newspapers published photos of three naked Italian tourists roaming through the city’s Barceloneta neighbourhood where there are many illegal tourist flats, shocking residents.
Earlier that year, a new documentary about the city’s tense relationship with visitors, “Bye Bye Barcelona”, warned that it was becoming “a theme park”.
In December last year, city officials slapped Airbnb and HomeAway with a 30,000 euro fine—which, at the time, was the maximum—for offering for rent homes which lacked permits.
Then in June, city hall increased the maximum fine to 600,000 euros as the two sites continued to advertise holiday apartments that did not have permits. This is the first time it has applied the fine.
San Francisco-based Airbnb claims that it provides a useful service by helping visitors find affordable temporary lodging while enabling homeowners to supplement their income.