The authorities of Barcelona have banned the opening of new hotels in the historic center of the city. Municipality has adopted a special plan of tourist accommodation, in accordance with which the city is divided into four parts with different terms and conditions for the hotel business. From now on, in the central districts of Barcelona, new hotels can not be opened even if the old closed.
Now Barcelona operates 377 hotels and 68,000 rooms approximately 9.6 thousand officially rented rooms, not counting the huge number of private housing, surrendered without any license. In Barcelona, home to 1.7 million people, but the city annually receives up to 7.5 million travelers. Last summer, in several areas of mass protests were held the city’s residents, who complained about the crowds of tourists.
Also last year, the Mayor of Barcelona Cola Hell has frozen the issuance of licenses for the opening of new hotels and other places of tourist accommodation in the historic center of the city, in order to limit the influx of tourists. Under the effect of the ban came about 30 hotel projects that were already in the process of obtaining a license.
Some tourist sites also introduced traffic restrictions. For example, in the market of La Boqueria banned from visiting tourist groups more than 15 people on Fridays and Saturdays. A Guell park entrance fee and introduced a limit of the number of visitors – 800 people per day. In addition, the city quays banned segway-tours.
