The project was presented to the Municipal Commission of Economics and Finances of Barcelona. The initiative is intended to facilitate the peaceful co-living of Barcelona’s permanent residents and the tourists who rent vacation accommodations in the neighborhoods. The specially created legal team of mediators will begin work in January. The team’s objective is not only to assist in resolving conflict, but to prevent problems as well. Agustí Colom, Tourism Advisor of Barcelona, explained these plans in more detail.
As the city council reports, every year, about 2000 incidents related to tourist housing are registered. The mayor’s office sincerely hopes that the new program will help to decrease these numbers significantly.
The program has been organized by the Government of Barcelona in collaboration with the Association of Tourist Apartments of Barcelona (Apartur), along with the Board of Real Estate Administrations. As Enrique Alcántara, the President of Apartur, points out, “The harmonious co-existence of the tourists and the city is an extremely important issue.” The project outlining the creation of the mediation centers is also closely related to the Tourism Strategic Plan-2020.