Sevilla residents push back

In Sevilla, the fight over tourism has moved from city hall to apartment doorbells, with residents now running what local media call a “guerrilla campaign” against tourist flats after Easter week pushed the city close to full capacity. (theolivepress.es) The trigger was Semana Santa, the Holy Week processions that turn Sevilla’s old center into one of Spain’s biggest religious events and one of its biggest hotel rushes. This year, complaints spiked after residents said short-term rentals packed neighborhoods already strained by visitors, noise, and rising housing pressure. (theolivepress.es) This did not come out of nowhere. In October 2024, Sevilla approved a rule limiting tourist apartments to 10% of homes in each of the city’s 108 neighborhoods, which effectively shut the door to new licenses in already saturated areas like the historic center and Triana. (theolivepress.es) Even before that cap, the city was asking platforms to remove listings. In July 2024, Sevilla requested the withdrawal of 715 tourist apartments, with about two thirds located in the historic center and Triana, using regional rules to challenge properties it said were operating improperly. (theolivepress.es) The housing argument in Sevilla is simple enough to fit on one street: when more homes become weekend businesses, fewer homes stay available for full-time neighbors. By May 2024, local reporting described parts of the city where residents feared central districts were turning into a “ghost town” as tourist flats and hotels replaced ordinary households. (theolivepress.es) Andalusia’s regional government has also been tightening enforcement. In February 2025, reporting on a regional inspection campaign said authorities had begun withdrawing licenses from 2,600 holiday-rental properties across tourism hotspots including Sevilla, Malaga, Cadiz, Granada, and Jerez. (theolivepress.es) Madrid has added a national layer on top of the local crackdowns. Spain published Royal Decree 1312/2024 on December 24, 2024, creating a single national register for short-term rentals and a digital one-stop system for sharing data on these properties. (boe.es) By June 30, 2025, Spain’s government said more than 215,000 short-term accommodations had applied for a registration number, and it said the biggest concentrations were in Andalusia, the Balearic Islands, the Canary Islands, Catalonia, and Valencia. Most of those applications, 169,908, were for tourist rentals rather than other kinds of short stays. (lamoncloa.gob.es) Sevilla is part of a wider Spanish backlash, but each city is choosing a different weapon. Barcelona announced in June 2024 that it planned to eliminate its roughly 10,000 tourist apartment licenses by 2028, turning one of Europe’s busiest visitor markets into the clearest test case for a hard rollback. (euronews.com) The protests have not stayed local either. In June 2025, demonstrations against overtourism spread across southern Europe, with crowds in Spain and other destinations arguing that visitor growth was inflating rents, crowding public space, and changing daily life in city centers and island towns. (euronews.com) So the scene in Sevilla now is not just about one packed Easter week. It is what happens when a city that depends on visitors tries to keep enough front doors, grocery stores, and quiet nights for the people who live there all year. (theolivepress.es)