According to data published by the Airbnb platform, searches for long-term stays in Bilbao have doubled in the first semester of 2021 compared to 2019. In addition, 11 per cent of cases are family or group trips, as reported by the Basque Department of Security.

Based on this semester of this year’s data, Airbnb has launched the campaign “to increase the city’s tourism and contribute to the boost of the local economy of medium-sized cities,” according to the platform. Each voucher will have a discount of 100 euros, which can only be used on Airbnb stays, depending on which customers “will have more budget for use in local shops and restaurants.”

The tourist apartments, the two sides of the same coin

Without knowing the usage data of the Airbnb platform, they have noticed the rise of tourism in the Casco Viejo de Bilbao in recent years and on more than one occasion they have denounced that “they suffer the consequences of massive and invasive tourism, both in the Casco Viejo and throughout Bilbao”.

However, especially in the Old Town they “suffer” the direct consequences of tourists’ stays. In this sense, the collective SOS Alde Zaharra has stressed that the fact that the tourist apartments “are everywhere” directly influences the daily life of the neighbors and neighbors because “in addition to increasing the prices of the premises and the housing and the noise of the street, the small merchants of the neighborhood and their jobs are continuously marginalized”.

The resident association of Bihotzean Alde Zaharra has also accused the City Council of Bilbao of “putting red carpet on tourists”, as long as “it does not take into account the complaints and needs of the neighbours”. To denounce the consequences of mass tourism, last week the collective SOS Alde Zaharra pasted several photos on the walls of the neighborhood where one could read the "rent hike" or "precariousness".