Residents in Barcelona, Madrid and other Spanish cities have protested rising housing costs and the effects of mass tourism. The supplied report describes demonstrations following the death of María del Carmen Abascal, an 87-year-old pensioner whose forced eviction in September had become a symbol of housing affordability concerns. Thousands of people took to the streets in multiple cities after she died Oct. 7, the report says.
Housing costs and short-term vacation rentals are central to the dispute. Residents argue that property companies can earn more by turning apartments into visitor accommodations, adding pressure to the supply of homes for people who live and work in the area. Barcelona Mayor Jaume Collboni has addressed the issue publicly, according to the report.
The scale of tourism is significant. The Barcelona Tourism Observatory reported that Barcelona and its surrounding region received 26.1 million visitors in 2025, generating an estimated $15.4 billion in direct tourism spending. Those figures illustrate the economic importance of visitors as well as the volume of tourism residents are contending with.
Barcelona officials have taken steps involving visitor charges and tourism policy. On April 1, the city combined a municipal surcharge of 5 euros with Catalonia’s regional tourist tax. The resulting overnight tax for hotel guests ranges from 7 to 12 euros per person, per night, according to the Catalan Tax Agency.
In September 2026, Barcelona finalized plans to restrict short-stay cruise tourism. The City Council initially approved increasing the municipal surcharge for short-stay cruise visitors to the legal maximum of 27 dollars per day, according to the council’s online portal. The material does not provide details about how the restriction will be implemented or its expected effects.
José Antonio Donaire, Barcelona’s commissioner for sustainable tourism, told The New York Times this summer that the city had begun reconsidering its approach to tourism in 2017. He characterized the city’s current message as “Not one tourist more.” Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez also addressed the issue at an event in Barcelona, though the supplied report does not give details of his remarks.
Jordi Lippe-McGraw, a travel writer who moved from New York City to Barcelona six weeks before speaking with Fox News Digital, said the experience of looking for an apartment showed her how competitive the market is. She said many people want to live in the city and that available housing is under pressure.
Lippe-McGraw said tourist crowds are especially noticeable in popular areas such as the Gothic Quarter, Las Ramblas and near the Sagrada Familia, even on an ordinary weekday. She said she understood why crowds could frustrate residents trying to commute, run errands or manage daily routines. Her own neighborhood, she said, was largely removed from protests, and people had been welcoming to her family in everyday interactions.
She said she and her family were trying to speak Spanish, learn local customs and show respect for the culture. Lippe-McGraw also noted that mass tourism affects other major destinations she has visited, raising a broader question about how cities should balance access for visitors with residents’ needs.
The protests and policy changes reflect competing pressures: tourism brings substantial spending, while residents and officials are confronting concerns about housing availability and the effects of visitor demand. The supplied material does not establish how much tourism alone has contributed to housing costs, or whether the city’s measures will reduce rents or crowding.
