THE crackdown on Airbnb-style accommodation continues in Spain.
Since April 2, authorities in Cordoba, Andalucia, have forbidden new tourist flat licences in its central and southern districts.
READ MORE: Huge protests over housing to rock Spain this weekend
The city, where part of the hit Game of Thrones series was filmed, receives millions of tourists each year, thanks to its iconic Mezquita mosque-cathedral and other ancient sites.
But locals have been increasingly fed up by the surging number of tourist apartments, placing pressure on the government to act.
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In an official announcement this week, Cordoba’s city council said: ‘All types of approvals, authorisations, urban planning licences, and declarations of compliance for tourist-use housing in the Centro and Southern districts are suspended for a period of three years.’
Mayor Jose Maria Bellido previously said there was a ‘feeling’ among ‘citizens and politicians’ that tourist apartments were ‘proliferating too much.’
It came after a study ordered by the City Council found that 40% of homes surrounding the Mezquita were holiday lets.
Bellido added: ‘The study recommended that we limit housing for tourist use in those two districts, and that’s what we’re doing now.’
He said the goal is to ensure no district has more than 5% of properties dedicated to renting to tourists.
In 2024, the Urban Planning Department processed 714 applications for tourist flat licences, and in the first quarter of 2025, 195 were already registered, which the City Council said shows ‘a sustained increase.’
It comes as the Junta de Andalucia continues to revoke tourist flat licences as part of a region-wide crackdown.
The Ministry of Tourism in Andalucia has cancelled 437 in Cordoba province alone since 2024.
It comes as potentially millions of Spaniards are set to take to the streets this Saturday to protest against what they call the ‘housing racket’.
Demonstrations are scheduled for Malaga, Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Mallorca, Ibiza, Tenerife and a host of other major cities across the country on April 5.
Many Spaniards, particularly young people, say they are fed-up of being increasingly priced out of city centres due to rising rents and surging buying costs.
The brunt of the crisis has been blamed on the rise of tourist apartments, which have surged by tens of thousands over the past few years.
The most affected areas are naturally tourist hotspots like Madrid, Sevilla, Malaga, Tenerife, Mallorca, Ibiza, Valencia, Cadiz and elsewhere.
