According to the AZ initiative, which organised the campaign, 50% of the tourist apartments in Pamplona are located in the Casco Viejo, where only 5.5% of the city’s population lives. In the city there are 311 tourist apartments, according to the association, of which there are 172 in the Casco Viejo. They say that this raises more and more problems for the 11,621 neighbors, such as discomfort to the neighbors, deterioration of the spaces, increased housing or loss of identity of the neighborhood.

To this must be added the proliferation of premises in the world of bar and hospitality, with the consequent noise and occupation of the street, as well as the warning of the loss of leisure spaces. They say that many neighbors have left the neighborhood, and many others, mainly young people, have more and more difficulty paying rent that is constantly rising and, therefore, going to other neighborhoods of Pamplona.

In the campaign starting this Thursday, different events will be held, starting at 19:00 hours with a meeting in the Plaza del Ayuntamiento de Pamplona in which an updated report on the increase in tourist housing will be presented, among others.

Asiron: “We’re in the time to put solutions”

The Mayor of Pamplona, Joseba Asirón, has pointed out to the media – recently also in ARGIA – that tourist weights are not yet a problem as is the case in Pamplona, San Sebastián and Barcelona. But he recognizes that the growth of tourist apartments is also the beginning of gentrification problems, so he has had to return to the issue. It recalls that in its previous mandate measures were taken in this regard, such as limiting the number of apartments of this kind that may be in a building or determining the height at which they should be.

Unzu project: Accommodation of 233 places

On Mercaderes Street of Pamplona and next to the Plaza del Ayuntamiento is being built the Unzu Bizi project, in which the accommodation of the plaza de 233 to sleep, oriented towards the plaza de los Burgos, and twelve homes between 68 and 205 square meters, destined to Mercaderes Street. In the mandate given to the mayor of Asuncion, 2015-2019, the city council stood against this project, mainly because of those sleeping places, but successive municipal governments gave it the green light and construction began in early 2023.

The following report by ARGIA in 2018 broadly analyzed the problem of tourism in the Old Town of Pamplona: Casco Viejo de Pamplona: fleeing the claws of mass tourism.