The battle between Apartur and the City Council for tourist apartments reaches the street

BarcelonaThe dispute between Barcelona City Council and Apartur over the closure of tourist apartments from 2028 has reached the streets. The latest campaign launched by the council has angered the employers' association, which has submitted a written statement to the administration requesting its "immediate" withdrawal because, it says, it "stigmatizes" the sector. The campaign specifically consists of an advertisement in which the City Council explains its intention to eliminate all licenses for this type of housing from 2028 onwards and argues that "prioritizing housing is a good plan". Furthermore, it encourages citizens to report illegal tourist apartments.

The campaign – which can be seen throughout the city, even on giant banners like the one in Portal de l'Àngel – has annoyed Apartur, which has accused the municipal government of using institutional advertising – and therefore public resources – to “hold the sector responsible for a structural problem like the lack of housing instead of implementing and announcing real and effective measures to create a larger and better supply”. For all these reasons, the employers' association claims that the City Council is making a “partisan use” of official advertising which, it interprets, violates the law.

In a statement, Apartur's president, Enrique Alcántara, considers the City Council's attitude "very serious" as it "places tourist apartments as the main focus of public confrontation". Additionally, the association questions that the campaign urges reporting illegal tourist apartments according to a City Council website which, it assures, "does not have updated and complete information". “It omits licenses recognized by firm judicial rulings or by administrative resolutions from the Barcelona City Council itself, which lead to a very serious error for citizens consulting the website's information,” it maintains.

Campaign for Primavera Sound

At the same time, however, Apartur has launched its own campaign these days. Coinciding with the Primavera Sound festival in Barcelona, the association of tourist apartments has distributed leaflets that, under the slogan "You have two festivals left," warn that without tourist apartments it will be impossible to find accommodation in the city from 2028 onwards. "Less accommodation, higher prices, and many visitors who will not be able to come. Without a place to sleep, there is no festival for everyone," it denounces.

Faced with the next major events that the city will host – the Pope's visit, Sónar, the start of the Tour de France, and the World Congress of Architects – the general director of Apartur, Marian Muro, considers it "highly contradictory" that Barcelona denounces tourist overcrowding and "at the same time wants to continue being a world reference by hosting major festivals, sporting events, congresses, and top-level events." She emphasizes, however, that "the great incoherence" is to do so, moreover, while "considering eliminating an essential part of the accommodation offer."

Apartur already ran a similar campaign during the last Mobile World Congress, where it distributed leaflets among the congress attendees telling them "get ready to sleep in a stand". At that time, the CEO of Mobile, John Hoffman, responded that they were not concerned about the elimination of this type of offer.