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Reuters
01-07-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Spain proposes bans on concert ticket scalping, fuel advertising
MADRID, July 1 (Reuters) - Spain's government on Tuesday unveiled a draft bill aimed at promoting sustainable consumption and reducing prices, which would ban practices such as reselling concert tickets for profit and advertising fossil fuels, or cars powered by them. "This government's objective is to encourage industry's transition towards more accessible and sustainable models, thereby lowering prices for consumers and also making decisive progress in environmental protection," Consumer Rights Minister Pablo Bustinduy told reporters. The bill would also ban "advertising based on fear" of crime or natural disasters, and would stop companies from making false or misleading claims about their environmental credentials, a practice known as greenwashing. Ads for most domestic flights will also be prohibited as the government pushes for travellers to use electric-powered trains. The bill will need approval from parliament, where the government of socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez is in a minority since winning another term in a vote in late 2023. The government has struggled to get enough parliamentary support in the lower house to pass a series of bills and has not yet presented a budget for this year and next. Bustinduy, who belongs to the far-left junior coalition partner Sumar, has launched campaigns against businesses such as budget airlines and tourism summer rentals, with mixed results. A court last week suspended fines of 179 million euros ($211.13 million) imposed by his ministry on low-cost carriers for charging for cabin baggage. Some of the rental listings his ministry had ordered to be withdrawn from platforms such as Airbnb (ABNB.O), opens new tab in May are still being advertised. ($1 = 0.8478 euros)
Straits Times
02-06-2025
- Business
- Straits Times
In Spain, short-term rentals surge despite bid to rein in overtourism
FILE PHOTO: Stickers that read \"Tourism kills the City\" are stuck on a Tourist City Sightseeing bus, with the La Sagrada Familia Basilica reflected on it, during a protest against mass tourism in Barcelona, Spain April 27, 2025. REUTERS/Nacho Doce/File Photo In Spain, short-term rentals surge despite bid to rein in overtourism MADRID - The supply of short-term rentals for tourists has jumped 25% in Spain over the last two years, a study by tourism lobby group Exceltur found, despite the local governments' attempts to curtail them amid a housing crisis. The boom in tourist accommodation is growing at an above- average pace in several of the top 50 tourist municipalities and destinations which accounted for half of all international visitor arrivals in 2024, the Exceltur study added. Conversely, the number of hotel rooms available grew by just 2% between 2022 and 2024, according to official data of registered tourist accommodation and listings on platforms analysed by Exceltur. Spain has been looking for ways to restrict the number of homes rented to tourists following a post-pandemic boom in visitors, amid protests by residents who blame overtourism for a spike in rental or home purchase prices. The measures seek to push landlords towards longer-term rentals to residents amid a countrywide deficit of 450,000 homes, according to the Bank of Spain. In Barcelona, the mayor banned all permits for short-term rentals by 2028, while Malaga, Madrid and the Canary Islands are restricting new permits. Last week, the government ordered Airbnb (ABNB.O) to withdraw more than 65,000 listings it said violated existing rules from its platform. Airbnb said it would appeal. "The big problem with these regulations is that, with traditional inspections, regional and local governments have been unable to enforce them," Exceltur vice president, Oscar Perelli, told Reuters on Monday. Tourist rentals in Madrid surged by 49% between 2022 and 2024, representing 38% of a total 176,702 beds for visitors, Exceltur said. In Malaga, tourist accommodation has increased by 36% in two years, now making up 56% of the offer to visitors. In Barcelona, a moratorium of several years on rental permits hasn't yet stemmed growth, with short-term rentals increasing by 26%, Exceltur added. Spain is the world's second most popular tourist destination after France, with 25.6 million international tourists visiting in the first four months of this year, up 7% from 2024. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Reuters
28-05-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Italy court cancels ban on remote check-ins for short-term rentals
ROME, May 27 (Reuters) - Italian judges have struck down a government ban on remote check-ins for short-term rentals that had prompted a clean up of keyboxes from city centres which was welcomed by campaigners against overtourism. Properties listed on Airbnb (ABNB.O), opens new tab and other short-term rental platforms use self check-in keyboxes to spare owners and holidaymakers from having to meet in person. The keyboxes have however been criticised as eyesores, often cluttering the street entrances of buildings or nearby gates and railings. The interior ministry banned the practice in November, arguing that check-ins without a physical encounter between guest and renter posed a security risk. But in a ruling published on Tuesday, the Lazio administrative court annulled the directive, saying, among other things, that it placed excessive burdens on landlords. Following the ban, cities such as Florence and Rome had stepped up efforts to remove self check-in keyboxes from public spaces. Marco Celani, head of short-term rentals association AIGAB, welcomed the court's ruling on Tuesday and said his lobby was in talks with the government for the "full recognition" of remote check-in technologies. The interior ministry said through a spokesperson it would wait for the court to publish the reasons for its ruling before deciding whether to appeal to a higher administrative court.
Reuters
19-02-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Florence bans check-in keyboxes as Italy acts against overtourism
FLORENCE, Italy, Feb 19 (Reuters) - Florence's local government has ordered owners of holiday rental properties to remove self check-in keyboxes by February 25 in a move against over-tourism in the Italian Renaissance city. Rental companies such as Airbnb (ABNB.O), opens new tab increasingly use self check-in keyboxes to save time for property owners and holidaymakers, who no longer need to meet to hand over keys and complete check-in procedures. However, critics say the boxes are ugly and argue that check-ins without a physical encounter between guest and renter pose a security risk. "Next week we will go ... to check where the ban on keyboxes is not respected, and then we will remove them," Florence Mayor Sara Funaro told a local television channel on Wednesday. Fines of up to 400 euros ($417.20) will be imposed on non-compliant owners, according to the city council's decision. Other famed Italian tourist destinations such as Rome and Venice have also taken steps to rein in tourist numbers as locals protest against the lack of affordable accommodation and hoteliers say holiday lets are hitting their business. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's government has already issued a nationwide rule prohibiting check-ins without visual guest identification. Massimo Torelli, spokesperson for the "Let's save Florence to live in it" campaign, said the group had been daubing the check-in boxes with a red cross. They are "everywhere, on the bicycle racks and on the street-light poles ... Florence is dying of uncontrolled tourism," he said. Torelli said he was pleased that city hall was finally taking action and he hoped the number of apartments dedicated to short-stay visitors would drop from 15,000 at present to 7,000-8,000, freeing up accommodation for local residents. ($1 = 0.9588 euros)
Reuters
07-02-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Barcelona city hall steps in to buy apartment block to prevent evictions
BARCELONA, Feb 7 (Reuters) - Barcelona's city hall said on Friday it would buy an apartment block known as 'Casa Orsola' to prevent the eviction of several tenants, including a teacher who has become a symbol of Spain's housing crisis and months of protests against over-tourism. City hall, along with a social housing association Habitat 3 Foundation, was stepping in to buy the Art Nouveau building in downtown Barcelona for about 9 million euros ($9.35 million) from Lioness Investments, Mayor Jaume Collboni told reporters. "No tenant will have to leave Casa Orsola and all apartments will be converted into social and affordable renting," Collboni said, adding that the price paid for the building was 30% below current market value. Josep Torrent, 49, who has lived in Casa Orsola for more than two decades, was among tenants who were told their rental contracts would not be renewed after private investors Lioness Investments acquired the building in 2020 with plans to transform its apartments into short-term rentals for tourists. His case epitomizes the housing crisis affecting large cities in Spain, where rental prices are soaring amid rising gentrification exacerbated by insufficient homebuilding and an explosion of short-term tourism rentals offered on platforms such as AirBNB (ABNB.O), opens new tab. His eviction, approved by a court ruling, had been postponed several times following protests against gentrification and over-tourism. Housing defence group Catalan Tenants Union welcomed the fact that Casa Orsola's apartments would not become expensive short-term lets but said city hall had paid too much for the building. Lioness Investment, which has not disclosed how much it paid for the building, did not immediately reply to a request for comment. Collboni had already announced a ban on short-term tourism rentals from 2028, in a bid to reduce the pressure on Barcelona's stretched housing market. ($1 = 0.9629 euros)
