Barcelona is not for Sale: The Economic Analysis of the Limitations of Tourism in Barcelona = Barcelona nem eladó: Barcelona turizmusának közgazdasági elemzése

Abstract

For a long time, tourism has been considered to be an attractive and supported element of international trade, but now this trend seems to be broken by a Spanish legislation intended to limit tourism in Barcelona. The purpose of this paper is to examine the possible reasons of such a government policy, evaluate the efficiency of the current measure in satisfying market players and elaborate on some possible solutions. Our findings, based mainly on microeconomic analyses, suggest that both the locals and the government have incentive to support restrictions on tourism, and that present policy is not likely to be the most optimal solution. Others, such as export taxes, or more unconventional ones, like de-seasonization appear to be better options. The more profound elaboration on the latter provides a useful topic for further examinations.