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Yahoo
9 hours ago
- Yahoo
Thousands of sun loungers removed in Majorca after anti-tourism protests
British holidaymakers heading to Majorca next summer will face increased competition to secure a sunbed, after the Spanish island announced that it would remove 1,700 from beaches around Palma. It comes after pressure from locals, who say there is hardly any space left to lay out their towels. Similar rules were put in place in Costa Blanca last year, where police began confiscating sunbeds placed on the beach before 9.30am and charging offenders £214 to get them back. Palma's council said it planned to reduce the number of sunbeds across the city's beaches by about 20 per cent. Playa de Palma, the largest, will have its 6,000 loungers reduced to 4,436. In Cala Major, the number of sunbeds will decrease from 300 to 250. In Cala Estància, in Can Pastilla, 132 will remain from an original 150. In the suburb of Ciutat Jardi, 300 will be cut to 288. Residents say they struggle to find space because of the large number of pay-per-use sun loungers and parasols, a problem made worse by the fact the island's beaches are receding due to years of sand erosion and rising sea levels. Anti-tourist sentiment has soared in Spain in recent years, with regular protests taking place across the country. Last summer, activists armed with water pistols soaked holidaymakers as they dined outside cafes in Barcelona. In March, anti-tourism campaigners in Majorca published an open letter telling visitors 'not to come' and that they were 'the source of our problem'. A demonstration organised by Southern Europe Network Against Touristification is set to take place on June 15 across several Spanish cities and islands – including Majorca – as well as in Venice and Lisbon. The campaigners say too much tourism prices out locals and causes environmental issues. A study by Fotocasa, the housing platform, last year showed that the average monthly rent in the Balearic Islands had risen from €562 to €1,451 in a decade, with prices considerably higher in hotspots such as Palma. Authorities have in response announced plans to limit the number of tourists arriving and invest in local infrastructure projects. In March, the Balearic Islands government, which administers Majorca, announced a slew of 'tourism containment measures', which included increasing a tax on visitors and putting a levy on hire cars. Barcelona has announced a €30 million scheme to revitalise the tourist hotspot of Ciutat Vella after public services reportedly suffered because of the area's popularity with visitors. The plan involves redesigning public spaces and converting old buildings into arts centres, as well as investing in housing and schools. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Local Spain
24-04-2025
- Business
- Local Spain
People in Spain pay half of their wages on rent
A new report has revealed that people in Spain now spend almost half their gross income on rent, laying bare the severity of the rental market situation for local people. Last year saw a wave of protests to demand affordable housing across Spain, strongly linked to the rise in short-term tourist rental accommodation in Spain's major cities and tourist destinations. The trend has continued into this year, with a nationwide demonstration held simultaneously in Spanish 40 cities earlier in April. Spanish radio network Cadena Ser reports that in 2024 average rents rose five times more than average wages in the country. According to the ' Relationship between salaries and rental housing in 2024 ' report by property website Fotocasa, in 2024 renters in Spain on average spent 47 percent of their salary on paying the rent, 4 percent more than in 2023 and 9 percent more than in 2019. This figure was based on average salary data from the InfoJobs platform and average rental prices from Fotocasa's property index. It also showed that rents have risen by a significant 14 percent year-on-year, bringing the average price in December 2024 to €13.29/m2 per month. This means that, taking into account the average gross salary in Spain, which in 2024 was €27,060 (€2,255 gross per month in 12 payments), renters had to spend 47 percent of their salary for an 80 m/2 home. The percentage of tenants' salaries spent on housing has risen from 38 percent in 2019 to 47 percent today, far exceeding financial recommendations. This is 'a figure well above the 30 percent recommended by official bodies,' says María Matos, spokesperson for Fotocasa. 'Furthermore, the 4 percentage point increase in just one year shows a radical change in renting, which exacerbates the inaccessibility of housing and could lead to long-term housing insecurity,' she added. This is a problem across most of Spain, but is particularly acute in regions like Madrid, where tenants now have to spend 71 percent of their gross salary to pay their rent. In Catalonia the figure is 64 percent and in the Balearic Islands more than 60 percent, although there has been a small decrease in the last year. Looking at the Fotocasa data, on a provincial level the 10 provinces of Spain that spend most of their salary on rent for an 80 m/2 home are: Barcelona (71 percent of gross salary), Madrid (71 percent), Guipúzcoa (59 percent), Vizcaya (56 percent), Girona (55 percent), Valencia (53 percent), Málaga (49 percent), Seville (45 percent) and Alicante (43 percent). Residents in 70 percent of provinces across the country spend more than the recommended 30 percent of their salary on renting. Meanwhile, in the provinces of Zamora, León, Badajoz, Ávila, Córdoba, Albacete, Cáceres, Teruel, Ourense, Ciudad Real, Jaén, Guadalajara and Castellón, renters spend 30 percent or less.
Local Spain
01-04-2025
- Business
- Local Spain
40 cities in Spain brace for mass housing protests on Saturday
Under the slogan "Let's end the housing business" (Acabemos con el negocio de la vivienda), tens of thousands of Spaniards struggling to pay their rents or afford to buy a property will rally in Spain this Saturday to call for change. In Madrid, the march will begin at Atocha at 12pm, while in Barcelona the rally will start at Plaza Espanya at 6pm. Valencia's protest will start at 6.30pm in the Town Hall Square, in Palma de Mallorca it will kick off at midday from Plaça Espanya and in Málaga it'll begin at 11.30pm in Plaza de la Merced. Nearly all of Spain's major provincial capitals and major cities will join the call for decent and affordable housing. These include Alicante, Albacete, Cuenca, Seville, Granada, Cádiz, El Puerto de Santa María, Jerez, Tarifa, Almería, Murcia, Badajoz, Cáceres, Guadalajara, Castellón, Valladolid, Salamanca, Zaragoza, Logroño, Burgos, San Sebastián, Santander, Gijón, A Coruña, Santiago, Vigo, Ourense, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Ibiza, San Isidro in Tenerife, Puerto del Rosario in Fuerteventura and Mahón in Menorca. Organisers are demanding an immediate drop in rents, that something be done with the more than 3.8 million empty homes in Spain, that eviction companies be outlawed and that vulnerable families cannot be evicted if they don't have alternative housing, and lastly that the country's housing protest movement not be silenced. Rents in Spain have increased by 78 percent in the last decade according to recent data by leading property website Fotocasa, and property prices by at least a third. Spain's Tenants' Union, one of dozens of groups and unions that have called the mass protests, have said that "exorbitant rents are the main cause of impoverishment of the working class and a barrier to accessing housing," adding that a small "rent-seeking" minority is enriching itself at the expense of "economically suffocating a large part of society." In January, Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez presented a raft of measures aimed at addressing the housing crisis, including a proposed ban or supertax on non-resident non-EU buyers. Some of these measures need parliamentary approval before coming into force, while others don't. Spain's Socialist-led government has already attempted to control the rise in prices by putting rent caps in place for existing tenants and banning prices from increasing in 'stressed rental markets', the latter being up to regional governments to decide whether to implement. PSOE's amended Housing Law has been criticised by many who argue it's had the adverse effect of reducing stock and thus bumping up prices, as many landlords are taking their properties off the market due to these price controls and rent caps, no longer considering renting to long-term tenants remunerative. April 5th's nationwide protests could be the biggest rallies related to housing rights in recent memory in Spain. In 2024, there were numerous protests across the country but they were held on different dates in different cities, and the focus was sometimes more on mass tourism than it was on Spain's housing crisis. In truth, the messaging has often been mixed due to the fact that some of the places where rents and property prices have risen the most are also those where tourism numbers have spiked in recent years. There's a growing sense among many Spaniards that they're being priced out of their own cities, as more affluent foreigners can more easily afford Spanish rents and properties, and highly profitable tourist lets in residential buildings have become extremely common.
Telegraph
08-03-2025
- Business
- Telegraph
Balearic Islands to raise tourist tax and put levy on hire cars
The Balearic Islands is to increase its tourist tax and put a new levy on hire cars as the archipelago announced a set of 'tourism containment measures' on Friday. The tourist tax, also known as the 'eco-tax', will rise from €4 to a maximum of €6 a night per person in peak summer months, although plans still need to be approved by the regional parliament. The levy is meant to finance environmental projects but has been used for a range of schemes, including a Covid relief fund. It will be applied at four different rates across 10 months from March to December, with January and February being exempt. The rise will add an extra €56 to the cost of a fortnight in Majorca, Ibiza or Menorca for a couple during the peak months, but under-16s are expected to remain exempt from the charge. Cruise passengers visiting the Balearics in June, July and August will see their 'eco-tax' tripled from two euros to six euros for each night they stay. The planned levy on hire cars will be for vehicles arriving on the islands from elsewhere, affecting tourists and hire car companies who ship in vehicles for the summer months. Jaume Bauzá, tourism minister in the conservative People's Party Balearic government, said: 'The islands have reached their limit.' The proposals will also raise the fine on holiday rental platforms advertising unlicensed properties to €500,000, as well as ban new holiday rental flats within residential apartment buildings. The move comes after protests over the past year against the impact of tourism, particularly on housing, with locals saying they are being priced out of the rental market. A study by Fotocasa, the housing platform, last year showed that the average monthly rent in the Balearics had risen from €562 to €1,451 in a decade, with prices considerably higher in hotspots such as Palma de Mallorca. Tourism on the rise Despite efforts to tackle over-tourism, the sector grew in 2024, with the Islands welcoming 18.7 million visitors, a rise of five per cent. About 15.3 million of the visitors were foreigners, with Germans and Britons being the most common overseas guests. Bringing in 22.4 billion euros per year, tourism represents more than half of the Islands' GDP. Margalida Prohens, the Balearic premier, last week presented a major review of the tourism sector to facilitate a 'transition to sustainability'. She said the report would provide the basis for 'a long-term process, which goes beyond any particular legislature or government mandate'. Ms Prohens has said she will not shirk difficult decisions and has not ruled out imposing a numerical limit on tourist numbers, which is something no Balearic government has done. 'Discriminatory and revenue-seeking' Friday's announcement drew sharp criticism from the Balearics' tourism industry associations. Majorca's hotel federation said that the 'eco-tax' hike would have a direct impact on tourists' spending capacity, affecting shops, restaurants and the leisure sector. The same association however welcomed stricter measures against unlicensed holiday rental homes, although it complained about a 'lack of courage' in merely imposing a ban on new holiday apartments in residential blocks as opposed to a reduction in existing ones. The islands' Baleval car rental association described the proposed new tax on tourist vehicles as 'discriminatory and revenue-seeking', warning that it will not succeed in decongesting the archipelago's roads, notorious for their high-season traffic jams.
Local Spain
10-02-2025
- Business
- Local Spain
Three quarters of rental ads in Barcelona are for rooms
Renting Seventy-six percent of rental adverts in Barcelona are now for individual rooms as opposed to entire apartments, new research shows, reflecting the extent of a housing crisis in Spain that prevents city residents from affording their own place. Looking to move? Find your next rental apartment here. New data has revealed the extent of the housing crisis in Barcelona, with the vast majority of new rental adverts now being for individual rooms rather than apartments. For many in the Catalan capital, this reflects the harsh recent reality of the Barcelona market. Living alone or renting an entire flat has become a dream for most, with flat shares and individual room rents the norm among locals well into their 30s and 40s. According to figures from the Rental Observatory and Rey Juan Carlos University, in Barcelona, despite almost a full year of attempts at price regulation in Catalonia, 74 percent of rentals on offer are for rooms. The data confirms that Barcelona is going through 'the worst crisis in the long-term rental market' according to María Martos, research director at property website Fotocasa. 'The market is completely disrupted,' she adds. As The Local has reported, landlords in Barcelona and around Spain have resorted to various means to try to circumvent new regulations that mean they must adjust rents to the official price index. Often this is done by converting their properties into seasonal or tourist rentals to bypass rules. This is having social consequences in the Catalan capital. In 2023, more than 50,000 people helped by the Cáritas charity in Catalonia were living in rooms, according to a report they published this week in collaboration with Esade. Price and supply tensions have also caused a generational gap in flat-shares. Previously something mostly done by students in their twenties, now renters up to 40-years-old are forced to rent a room as they can't afford a full apartment. Young people are increasingly leaving the family home later due to the imbalance in the rental market, and single room rents are now almost the 'only alternative they have to be able to leave their parents' house or develop their life project,' Ferrán Font, director at told 20 Minutos. There's no sign of a resolution anytime soon, either. Iñaki Unsain, founder and CEO of ACV Gestión Inmobiliaria, a Barcelona-based agency, points out that the salaries of younger workers have not risen at the same rate as the prices of rents in recent years. 'When I put a flat up for rent I have to take the advert down because of the flood of calls I get and I have come across people offering to pay three or six months rent in advance so as not to be left without a place to live,' he says. Another leading Spanish property website, Idealista, has shown that Barcelona is the city with the most expensive room rentals in Spain, with an average of €620 per month. It is closely followed by Madrid (€565), Palma de Mallorca (€500) and San Sebastián (€487). See Also
