Catalonia Welcomes Home Sharing in New Tourism Decree

Hosts across Catalonia can share rooms in their homes and welcome guests on Airbnb after the regional government approved a tourism decree that legally recognized this activity for the first time yesterday, expanding the range of accommodation that can be used for short-term rentals. 

This is welcome news for countless Catalan families who rely on the additional income from sharing their homes. Hosts keep up to 97 cents of every euro they charge, and travel on the platform helped boost the Catalan economy by almost 5 million euros a day last year alone. 

The new decree is also good news for guests looking for an authentic, local and sustainable way to enjoy the region, as 3 in 4 listings in Barcelona—Catalonia’s capital—are outside the city’s main tourist district. This helps spread guests across the city. With almost half of guests’ spending taking place in the communities where they stay, it also diversifies tourism euros beyond hotel districts to local families and communities.  

As we move forward, we want to continue to be good partners to everyone in Catalonia and work together to ensure everyone benefits from home sharing on Airbnb based on our experience of working with more than 500 governments and organizations around the world. 

Since 2018 we have worked together on measures to help hosts follow the rules and display registration numbers where required, and to identify and remove bad actors. We will continue to work with authorities across the region in the coming months to develop sustainable tourism solutions that help everyone in Catalonia move forward.