Madrid, Barcelona and other major international destinations such as Ibiza, Venice and Amsterdam have proven this firsthand. It is not always easy for a city to combine tourist success with the daily life of its residents and affordable housing rents for the local population. However, what just happened in Valencia is an exceptional situation; so strange that it has already attracted the attention of newspapers and television: the enormous proliferation of visitors there – in 2023 the region broke its own international travel record with around 9 visitors. 0.7 million – neither more nor less led to the creation of “tourist cages”.

The expression was invented networking and among the neighbors themselves, but you get the idea well. And above all the challenges facing the city of Valencia.

Holiday behind bars. They were called “cadafals para bous” or “cages for tourists”. Although this statement sounds a little strange, the truth is that it captures the concept very well. In the heart of Botànic, a neighborhood in the Extramurs district of Valencia, they have established a series of tourist apartments that, when viewed from the street, resemble prison cells rather than apartments designed to enjoy a peaceful and relaxing holiday on the Mediterranean.

The reason is simple: The entrances at the bottom of the sidewalk are protected by metal bars. The look the bars give them has even led some to refer to “guiris cages”. Sorna aside, accommodation establishments have made headlines for two reasons: they spark neighborhood debates and, in their own right, they are further evidence of how tourist apartments are expanding in Valencia.

Click on the image to go to the tweet.

“They made fools of themselves. It’s crazy.”. The news appeared in the newspaper a few days ago. I grew upThis situation also expressed discomfort to the neighbors living in the building. One of them assured the newspaper that the promoters of the “tourist cages” had to convert a previously spacious ground floor of 391 m2 (it even housed a sauna) into half a dozen apartments, small apartments designed for tourists. . They explained to the newspaper: “They made five spaces consisting of a living room-kitchen and a bedroom separated by a low wall. This is crazy.”

“They affect the facade and the neighborhood.”. The initiative sparked such outrage among at least some of the block’s residents that a meeting of property owners sent a letter to the Valencia City Council warning of changes to the former warehouse. Always according to the information compiled in the text I grew up, regrets the “structural change” that the building has undergone and assures that the developers changed a common element without the consent of the community, “greatly affecting the aesthetics of the facade and the neighborhood.” Their argument is broader and they even question whether such a tourism business could function without a reception service.

Click on the image to go to the tweet.

“No one is doing anything here”. This statement, once again, comes from a resident of Turia Street in Botànic and reflects very well the fatigue of at least part of Valencia’s population due to the proliferation of apartments for visitors. “We condemn this, because they open irregular tourist apartments in all the neighborhoods and nobody does anything here,” the neighbor emphasizes. He’s not the only one pointing in this direction.

Recently the Federació d’Associacions Veïnals de València insisted on “the urgency of stopping the avalanche of tourist apartments that are flooding the city.” “This is simply unsustainable,” he insisted. Data released by PSOE last month reflects that the number of apartments for visitors in the city increased by 40% between January 2023 and the same month in 2024. It has grown from 7,318 accommodations advertised on websites such as Airbnb, Booking or Homeway at the beginning of last year to almost 10,300. Socialist groups are already demanding the implementation of restrictions.

explosion in the environment. These are not the only data that give an idea of ​​​​the huge increase in tourist apartments in the capital of Valencia. Beyond the 38% increase in supply across the city in just 12 months; There is some data that gives an idea of ​​how these flats are expanding, be it the 120% increase in housing inspections for visitors or the 156 complaints made by the Local Police about illegal accommodation in the first quarter of the year.

In addition to most tourist areas, the offer is also increasing in the surrounding neighborhoods. According to data published by PSOE after examining the segregated tables, this rate is 67%. In Benicalap and Ciutat Fallera the increase will already exceed 100%; In Saïda and Marxalenes, this rate reaches 98%; 69% in Rascanya and Torrefiel; 65% in Olivereta and Patraix. In parallel, rental housing prices are rising both in the city and the metropolitan area, as reflected in a report by the President of the Housing Observatory just a few weeks ago.

Image | William Carletti (Unsplash)

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