“Barcelona is Not for Sale”
That was one of the slogans displayed at a recent protest march in Barcelona. Local residents were protesting the large number of tourists in their home city. The Barcelona government’s recent law restricting the number of hotel and rental beds in the city made hotel owners and rental landlords outraged at the restrictions and residents outraged that the restrictions were not strict enough. The Barcelona residents feel that the new law was necessary but still not enough to curb the in flood of tourists as Barcelona becomes more and more popular. Despite the local resident protest it cannot be denied that the tourists support a wide range of industries in Barcelona and not only rentals and hotels. For this reason the Barcelona government has to act with caution, balancing their regulations between too many and too few restrictions.