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Valencia, Budapest and Athens are all putting in place new legislation to tackle overtourism and illegal short-term accommodation.
ADVERTISEMENTAs the main tourist season winds down, cities are putting in place legislation to control overtourism and crack down on badly-behaved visitors alongside landlords who run illegal accommodation. Valencia in eastern Spain has announced its plans to cut off electricity and water for illegal tourist accommodation in the city. The mayor, María José Catalá, believes that the providing of too much water and electricity to short-term lets has a serious impact on permanent residents. Local media reported that she told the State of the City Debate the existence of tourist apartments “impacts the price of rents, displaces the population,… implies the gradual disappearance of local commerce in favour of shops for tourists, and implies an imbalance in public provisions” which favours tourists over locals.Catalá appears to be taking the situation very seriously. On behalf of the city council, she has requested the power to sanction illegal tourist apartments, and impose fines of up to €600,000 on landlords who refuse to comply with the new laws. Records show that, under Catalá, inspections of tourist apartments have increased by 454 per cent this year alone and that police activity against illegal tourist apartments has risen from 73 reports in 2022 to 449 so far in 2024. The closure of some 278 illegal residences has already been ordered this year. Valencia is following in the footsteps of SevilleThe move comes after the council of the southern Spanish city of Seville was told it was within its rights to cut off the water supply to illegal tourist accommodation.Before the decision was made in late August, Seville had already disconnected the supply to six apartments which were found to be illegal. While three of the owners appealed, the judge accepted the council’s argument that the apartments were not the owners’ residences, instead taking the sides of neighbours who had complained about noise. Seville’s council believes there are some 5,000 illegal apartments in the city, in addition to 10,000 legally licenced ones. Officials confirmed that the water supply would only be restored once the apartments have reverted back to being regular residences.Tourism in Seville has boomed since the end of the COVID pandemic. The city of just 700,000 people has seen an influx of around 3.5 million visitors a year, most of them choosing to stay in the small historical centre.Valencia is also considering restrictions on cruise ships in the cityBack in Valencia, and the mayor has also suggested that the city may move to change the rules on cruise ships docking there in the future. Saying the issue of the boats “deserves reflection” Catalá floated the idea of “limiting and reducing the arrival of mega-cruise ships”.She announced that there are plans in the works to set up a permanent group with members of the City Council, the Port Authority and the cruise sector “to regulate cruise traffic”.ADVERTISEMENT“We want to design a shared social and environmental sustainability strategy for cruises and ensure quality cruise tourism, seeking the deseasonalisation of stopovers, the distribution of the flow of cruise passengers at the destination and planning,” she said.Catalá also indicated her team will “prioritise those ships that use Valencia as a base port, that is, those that spend the night in the city and, therefore, that generate a greater economic impact and… seek quality tourism.”Budapest plans to ban short-term rentalsHungary’s capital is also cracking down on overtourism, and has just announced it will be banning all short-term rentals in the city.Budapest residents narrowly voted to ban this form of accommodation – but it won’t come into effect until 1 January 2026.ADVERTISEMENTIt won’t be a sweeping measure, however. From 2026, the ban will only affect one small part of Budapest, District VI, also known as Terézváros.Despite its relative diminutive size, the ban will likely be felt with some significance as it’s one of the most densely populated areas of the city. 54 per cent of people living there voted in the affirmative on the ban and it’s now suggested it might be just the first of such decisions to be made. ADVERTISEMENTVictor Orban’s government has reportedly been keen to put bans like this in place across the country. Many people in Hungary are unhappy over short-term lets contributing to an ongoing housing shortage as well as unaffordability for local residents.Athens will ban some new short-term lets from 2025Greece’s capital has also announced its plans to ban new short-term lets from 1 January 2025, although the move only seems to be temporary at the moment.Just one day after the Budapest decision, Greece’s government has announced it will stop issuing new short-term rental licences in the first, second and third municipal districts in the centre of AthensADVERTISEMENTFor now, the restriction will only remain in place for 12 months. After that period, authorities will take a close look at whether the ban has had enough of an impact on overtourism and the local housing situation before deciding whether or not to extend it.Previously, the government had only wanted to test out the scheme for 90 days, but it was soon decided that would not have been long enough. Instead, the year-long trial will apply to districts where short-term lets comprise more than 5 per cent of the total housing stock and, therefore, have a noticeable impact on the lives of residents.ADVERTISEMENTAuthorities in Athens will also work with landlords to encourage them to be more considerate to locals and the environment.Athens tourist tax to riseFollowing a summer of natural disasters related to climate change, the local government will impose a daily tax on short-term rentals to deal with the ongoing crisis.During the busy April to October period, the tax will increase from the current €1.5 a day to €8. In the low season, it will go up from €0.50 to €2 per day, according to news agency Reuters. ADVERTISEMENTDespite overtourism and forest fires, which have seen countless evacuations, 2024 is set to be a record year for Greece in terms of tourism revenue. It’s expected the country’s income from the sector could reach up to €22 billion by the end of the year. Such measures haven’t affected other European tourism hotspots too negatively in the recent past. In August, following the lead of cities like London, Dublin, Amsterdam and Paris, the Czech capital announced it’s planning to limit the amount of short-term tourist accommodation available.Prague’s authorities are hoping that the proposed move will bring down real estate prices – and ensure residents are not forced out by tourists.ADVERTISEMENTBarcelona has gone one step further still. The popular Spanish coastal city has announced plans which, it hopes, will eliminate all tourist rentals by 2028. Reaction has been mixed there, however, among local Catalans and the city’s large foreign-born population, which has now reached a significant 25 per cent.
