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Shkruar nga Pamfleti
Last year Spain, which has a population of 47 million, welcomed a record 85.1 million international tourists, up 19% in 2022.
Barcelona's mayor plans to increase the tourist tax on cruise passengers visiting the city for less than 12 hours as part of his ongoing efforts to tackle the fallout from mass tourism in the Catalan capital.
Jaume Collboni, a member of the Catalan Socialist party, has announced a series of measures designed to reduce overcrowding and improve the city's rent situation since taking office last year.
Four weeks ago, Collboni said he would end renting out apartments to tourists by 2028 by revoking the licenses of 10,101 apartments currently approved as short-term rentals. There have been huge protests across Spain against the detrimental effect the booming tourism industry is having on people's daily lives.
In an interview with El País on Sunday, the mayor said he would seek to increase the tax paid by cruise passengers, which is now €7 a day, to ensure the city properly benefits from their short visits.
" Barcelona is a city open to visitors and tourism is an important sector of its economy. That being said, I am determined to address the consequences that mass tourism is having on the city. This means going all the way with the ban on tourist accommodation in 2028. But we will also... significantly increase the tax on people on cruise stops ," Collboni told the newspaper.
He said that tourist accommodation rentals and short cruise stops were causing problems for the city and its pursuit of quality tourism.
" When it comes to a choice between tourists using accommodation and the right to accommodation, we have decided to put the right to accommodation in Barcelona first. When it comes to non-stop cruise passengers – less than 12 hours – you get an intensive use of public space with no benefit to the city and a sense of occupation and saturation. We want a tourism that respects its destination ", said Collboni.
The mayor did not say how much he was planning to raise the tax this year, but added that he had started studies to see how the tax would affect. Collboni added that the idea of the increase was not to deter cruise visitors, but to ensure they paid their way and generated revenue that could be invested in projects such as installing air conditioning in schools.
He said his ban on tourist accommodation would not deter visitors and that the city and surrounding area had enough hotel capacity to support hosting major annual events such as the Telephone World Congress.
Last year Spain, which has a population of 47 million, welcomed a record 85.1 million international tourists, up 19% in 2022.
Growing anger and frustration over unchecked tourism growth has sparked a series of protests in recent months on the mainland and in the Balearic and Canary Islands.
At the heart of the protesters' complaints is the massive distorting effect that tourism has had on the housing market and the quality of life of local residents in recent years.
"During the last five years - but mainly since the pandemic - people have felt that everything is overcrowded, that there are more and more tourists and this leads to congestion of roads and public services ", said Rafael Giménez, from Prou Eivissa (Enough Ibiza ), a group campaigning for restrictions on the number of visitors and vehicles on the island.
“ Ibiza is an island, so accommodation is limited by definition. The law of supply and demand is completely broken ," he added.
In April, Víctor Martín, a spokesman for the collective Canarias se Agota (Canarians have had enough), said the problem was not the tourists themselves, but their numbers and the old tourism model that lures them to the archipelago.
" We have reached the point where the balance between the use of resources and the well-being of the population here has broken down, especially over the past year ," he said.
Another large demonstration will be held in Mallorca on Sunday evening. The protest in the capital Palma was called by the platform Menys Turisme, Més Vida (Less tourism, more life), with the slogan "To change the path, to set limits to tourism"./ Adapted "Pamphlet" from "The Guardian"
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