Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has announced a new initiative to tackle the growing strain tourism is placing on housing in major cities.
The government plans to create a Tourist Housing Observatory, which will map areas with high tourist saturation and help balance tourism growth with quality of life for local residents.
This new body will be officially approved at next week’s Cabinet meeting and forms a central part of the new national strategy, dubbed Spain Tourism 2030: Caring for the Future.
The strategy was presented at the 5th Turespaña Convention held in Caceres, which brought together over 1,000 industry professionals and public officials.
In his speech, Sanchez said the strategy is the result of wide consensus, shaped by input from nearly 300 organisations – ranging from business associations and trade unions to universities and tourism companies.
The 50 proposed measures cut across multiple government departments, reflecting what Sanchez described as a ‘cross-cutting approach’ to governance.
The strategy also emphasises digital innovation and marks the first time Spain’s national tourism policy explicitly incorporates climate change as a core concern.
Sanchez shared some headline figures, including that in 2024, Spain welcomed 94 million tourists, and 2025 has already delivered a record-breaking summer.
Tourism now accounts for 12.3% of Spain’s GDP and 13.2% of all employment.
Still, he warned, ‘we cannot afford to be victims of our own success.’
Rapid growth, he said, is fuelling serious problems in some regions, including gentrification, rising rents, and a shortage of affordable housing.
In 27% of tourist-heavy cities, he noted, short-term rentals are pricing locals out of their own neighbourhoods.
In the most extreme cases, tourists outnumber residents eight to one.
‘Tourism brings life to our cities,’ Sanchez said, ‘But it cannot be allowed to empty out our neighbourhoods.’
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