The World Economic Forum puts figures to the feeling that traveling is becoming increasingly expensive. The organization that gathers the elite of the global economy and politics in Davos warns that, since 2024, tourism prices have soared above inflation in 75% of destinations, according to a recent report consulted by ARA. The Travel & tourism development index 2026 concludes that the tourism sector worldwide has lost price competitiveness in the last two years, even though the influx of visitors on a global scale has continued to grow.

It is unusual for Judit Carrera, director of the Centre of Contemporary Culture of Barcelona (CCCB), to appear in the economics pages. Tourism governance and access to housing are two such huge and transversal challenges that they also impact the definition of Barcelona as a city and its cultural dynamics. From the CCCB, she has placed these topics at the center of many of her activities, from the Biennial of Thought that is being held these days to the Cities and Tourism cycle, for which there are precisely two new activities this very week. The topic, however, also affects the very functioning of the center. Carrera, on one hand, argues that limits must be placed on tourism and, on the other, is committed to the CCCB reaching more foreign visitors. When the search for a new tourism model has become the Holy Grail, Carrera establishes culture as a vector of change.

The expansion of Barcelona airport will be a reality in less than ten years. "By 2036 everything will be finished and in operation," assured the president of Aena, Maurici Lucena, this Friday at the Association of Economists of Catalonia (CEC). In fact, Lucena has gone a step further and has opened the door to bringing forward some investments that, for the moment, are planned for the 2032-36 period.

Discussions about the housing crisis begin with economic arguments at vermouth time, move on to politics, social complexity, management in the historical sphere, and immigration. By dessert time, the conversation is still not over. Almost always during the conversation, morality, legitimacy, and values also come into play.

While current events are marked by the housing crisis, an auction platform has brought a historic three-story building in the old town of Valls to the market with a starting price of 1 euro. For less than what a loaf of bread or a latte costs, Escrapalia is offering a 368-square-meter property with a garage and attic in the capital of the Alt Camp region. However, to live in it, a comprehensive renovation is required.

At the beginning of the year, the Spanish government announced with great fanfare the creation of a public company to manage affordable rental housing held by the State, Casa 47. However, when it launched its web portal in September, there were 800 apartments available throughout Spain. Maribel Ramos (Badajoz, 1977) assumed the presidency of Casa 47 in September, and grants her first interview to ARA.

At the gates of elections that will revolve around housing, the Spanish government is boasting about the construction of subsidized housing (HPO) during the first half of the year and speaks of "accelerated growth". The administrations as a whole – central, regional, and local – have begun to build 70% more apartments than in the same period last year. However, in absolute numbers, these are 13,942 homes, 20% compared to the 67,500 that have been promoted for the free market.

Knowing that a million homes will be missing across the country in two years—according to the Bank of Spain—builders and developers highlighted this Wednesday during the 5th National Housing Congress, held in Barcelona, the obstacles they face in "producing at the rate they historically" had done.

Three women took over the Espai Texas this Monday afternoon to weave a serene and thrilling narrative that kept the seats—packed to capacity—hooked on every word. Writer Llucia Ramis, notary Camino Quiroga, and the vice president of Amat Immobiliaris, Joana Amat, told a story of fear, uncertainty, and hope.

This week is marked on the calendar for many Catalan retirees, beneficiaries of other Social Security pensions, and their partners. Imserso, the Spanish government's social tourism program, is putting up for sale the trips for the 2026/27 season, which will begin in November and run until June.

The headquarters of Foment del Treball has been filled with proclamations in defense of Barcelona, Catalonia, and Europe not missing the train of artificial intelligence (AI), in the face of the flood of alerts and fear that has shaken the world in recent hours. The representative of the European Commission in Spain, Daniel Calleja, has clearly positioned himself in favor: "We must invest more and better in AI. Barcelona has a great opportunity, and so does Spain," he claimed this Tuesday at a congress organized by the Catalan employers' association.

Changes to the Trucafort wind farm, located in the Baix Camp and Priorat regions: it will go from having 91 wind turbines to 7, although it will have the same installed capacity as until now. Naturgy will allocate 45 million euros to replace all the equipment currently there with more efficient ones, a fact that will allow it to reduce the number of installed turbines.

Most people have opened a real estate portal and performed a search that fits their needs, whether to find a place to live—with a certain sense of desperation, in more than one case—or to conduct a homemade market study. However, what are the requirements for a future home and to what extent do they end up conditioning the final decision?

Room rentals are one of the loopholes that landlords in Catalonia have found to bypass rent caps. Consequently, in December, Parliament approved a law to regulate seasonal and room rentals, a pioneering initiative in Spain.

The American multinational technology corporation Oracle has closed a record-breaking first quarter in which, literally, accounting and financial indicators have hit highs. In the first three months of its fiscal year, which ended on August 31, the company specializing in data centers saw its profits soar by 60% compared to the same period last year, earning 4.679 billion dollars – about 4.032 billion euros.

Large housing holders are in the political and social spotlight, in the face of the serious housing crisis suffering in Catalonia (and the rest of Europe). The Government has the decree to create the Registry of large holders in the oven, which Parliament approved creating in March 2022. According to the draft, which is still pending final approval, and to which ARA has had access, the Housing Agency wants to be able to publish on its website the corporate name – the equivalent of the name – and the NIF (tax identification number) of legal entities that are considered large holders.

Five years after the end of tolls on the AP-7 and AP-2 —the main motorways in Catalonia—, some 250 economists and mobility experts spent Wednesday morning reflecting on the management of the country's main roads. "As economists, we know that apparently free decisions also generate costs and that, if they are not assigned explicitly and transparently, they fall on taxpayers or are passed on to the future," warned the dean of the Association of Economists of Catalonia (CEC), Carlos Puig de Travy.

Miquel (a fictional name) is 36 years old and is about to buy an apartment in Barcelona, in the Sarrià neighborhood. His mother "has paid quite a bit more than half of the apartment" and he will take out a mortgage to secure the rest of the financing. "Without my mother's help it wouldn't have been possible, and we had to have many meetings with the bank to see exactly how we would do it," he explains to the ARA.

The 50,000 Plan is the great promise of Salvador Illa's government. Two years after the announcement of the measure, the Minister of Territory, Sílvia Paneque, assured, in an interview on Catalunya Ràdio this Friday, that there are "practically" 10,000 apartments "finished," and that 28,000 more are "in projection." The data, however, do not coincide with those held by Catalan builders, who confirm that "there are only 3,000 apartments put out to tender and awarded", in the words of the president of the Chamber of Construction Contractors of Catalonia (CCOC), Lluís Moreno, this same Friday in the ARA.

A big day at the Port of Barcelona. The Chinese company Hutchison Ports officially announced this Thursday the incorporation of two state-of-the-art cranes at the BEST container terminal, which accounts for 42% of the wealth generated by the entire infrastructure. According to the Minister of Transport, Óscar Puente, "they are much more than just two cranes, they are the difference between being a transit port or a gateway."