MADRID, Jan. 28 (Xinhua) -- The Barcelona Town Hall has approved a radical plan in an attempt to control the ever increasing number of tourists visiting the city and region.
The new plan, approved on Friday, aims to reduce the pressure of visitors in key neighborhoods, such as the Barceloneta, while allowing locals quality public space and freedom from noise.
The city of Barcelona has around 1.6 million inhabitants by the end of 2015. While the visitors to the city had grown to just under 9 million in 2015, from 1.7 million in 1990, according to the Barcelona Tourist Authority.
Spain had received a record number of visitors in 2016, with Catalonia the most popular region. The number of visitors to Barcelona would certainly surpass the 9-million mark in 2016.
In addition, tens of thousands of passengers from cruise ships had spent a handful of hours in Barcelona, visiting the most famous sites, but not making an overnight stay.
The overcrowding in the city has long been a source of conflicts in certain areas of the city, such as the "Barceloneta" region, where many flats have been converted into tourist apartments.
Locals complain about the noise and poor behavior of many visitors. Meanwhile, the famous Boqueria market has been forced to limit the number of tourist groups to avoid overcrowding.
The Town Hall has established a series of areas, such as the Barrio Gotico (Old Town) and Port area, where no new tourist accommodation will be allowed.
In other areas, such as Sagrada Familia and the increasingly popular Poble Nou, any accommodation which closes will be allowed to be replaced, but with no increase in capacity.
In a third zone on the periphery of the town, tourist accommodation will be allowed to be built, as long as it remains within established limits of tourist density.
While welcomed by residents' associations, the plan has been criticized by organizations such as the Barcelona Hotel Association and the Council for Trade, Service and Tourism.
These organizations argue that tourism is a "key activity" for Barcelona and that controls could threaten both income and the creation of employment.
