Another country popular with Russian tourists in the days of accessible Europe is obviously no longer happy with the return of foreign tourists after covid. We are talking about Portugal. And for a certain category of tourists, the Portuguese authorities seem to be planning to create unbearable conditions for extorting a lot of money from them. We are talking about tourists renting private accommodation using the short-term rental method: for this, the Portuguese government has announced a massive package of measures to overcome the housing crisis in the country.
First of all, the well-known aggregator Airbnb, we recall, who left Russia, will “get it”. It is planned to introduce a ban on new licenses for apartments placed on this service, as well as for others offering real estate for short-term rental. The reason, as elsewhere, is a sharp rise in housing and rent prices – they have grown by 37%, which is why local residents cannot find a roof over their heads. At the same time, we are talking about a poor country, where about half of the employees have a salary below 1,000 euros per month. All of these factors, plus a tourism-dependent economy, make it difficult for locals to rent or buy property, local officials say.
The initiative comes from the very top: Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa said the crisis now affects all families, not just the most vulnerable. And therefore, the most stringent measures will be taken to solve the housing crisis. And it is expected that some of them will be approved next month. By the way, Portugal also closed its Golden Visa program, which offers EU passports to citizens of non-EU countries for the purchase of luxury housing and other investments.
Recall that Portugal is not the only country in Europe that introduced measures that will affect vacationers. Measures are also being introduced against tourists in Spain, in Barcelona, for example, they officially banned the cost of new hotels in the city center and generally limit their number, they “fight” with hotels in the Balearic Islands, and in the Canary Islands they replenish the budget due to “draconian” fines from tourists and the infrastructure serving them. Read more here.
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