The Generalitat has agreed with Barcelona City Hall to increase the tourist tax threshold so that the City Council can charge visitors up to 8 euros per night. This was announced by Mayor Jaume Collboni at the end of the joint commission in which the Minister of the Presidency, Albert Dalmau, participated on behalf of the government, and in which investments for the promised construction of 1,700 housing units or for the expansion of L4 of the metro.
Regarding the tourist tax, the increase of which was proposed by ERC in Barcelona, the government is committed to promoting the legal and regulatory changes necessary so that the municipal surcharge that Barcelona collects for overnight stays in the city can increase from 4 at 8 euros maximum. . As the Minister of the Presidency explains, the desire is to incorporate it into the law accompanying the budgets, which must in turn be validated in Parliament.
In terms of housing, the government will contribute 110 million euros to build 1,788 homes in Barcelona in the coming years. On the one hand, it has committed to contributing 88 million so that the Institut Català del Sòl (Incasòl) can build 637 on eleven plots of land offered by the Town Hall. On the other hand, it will also co-finance to the tune of 22 million euros the construction of 1,151 affordable housing units by IMHAB over the period 2025-2027.
In addition, the Generalitat also announced that it would purchase the four properties of the Hospital Clínic de Barcelona abandoned at auction. The Generalitat and the Town Hall have also recognized the need to regulate seasonal rentals and protect the elimination of tourist apartments in the Catalan capital in 2028.
Likewise, among other agreements reached within the commission are the financing of the expansion of the L4 metro, between the La Pau and Sagrera stops, or the new expansion works of the Vall d’Hebron hospital.
