In the beach area, the Marina and the fishing neighborhoods of Valencia, the number of places in tourist apartments offered online has increased by 36.3% in the last month. The apartments, 42.3%. These are the latest figures from Visit Valencia, the tourist area of the Valencia City Council, on this new tourist market and a reality that residents of the neighborhood want to put a stop to, dissatisfied with the effects it has on their demarcation.
As a result of this, the new Neighborhood Point for people affected by tourist housing in the Poblats Marítims was born, an initiative of the neighborhood association Cuidem Cabanyal-Canyamelar and the combative Instagram profile La MataObras, specialized in denouncing the touristification of neighborhoods. from the city.
This new point is presented as a space to help residents affected by the reforms, "many of which are illegal," they denounce, that are being undertaken in the area to house new apartments for tourists.
They argue that “hundreds of homes are being transformed into businesses in the neighborhood,” generating an increase in prices and “expulsion from the neighborhood,” in addition to various noises and annoyances. The point, which opens attention to the public through an email, is one more step in the strategy of La MataObras, which disseminates on social networks how to combat touristification as it affects the housing market. Modifying the statutes of the neighborhood communities to prevent buildings from housing tourist establishments is one of their strategies.
But while in neighborhoods like Cabanyal-Canyamelar initiatives like this arise, also at the mercy of the commercial basements that are left empty, in the commercial areas of the city center those same tourists who sleep on the beach energize the main commercial arteries of the city center. It is one of the conclusions of the report on the retail sector in Valencia presented by the consulting firms Gesvalt and aRetail. Both conclude that the occupancy level of commercial premises on their two main commercial routes is less than 4%. Specifically, occupancy stands at 96.05% on Colón Street and 100% on Juan de Austria Street.
The main reason for the attraction of new operators, they argue, is the growth of the tourism sector and its impact on foot traffic. During the first half of 2023, there was a 27% year-on-year increase in openings in the city's main commercial arteries, with demand mainly focused on restaurants and fashion. The report also points out that there are significant variations depending on the street and the total surface area of the premises, but the figures are already situated, in premises with less than 100 square meters, between €200/m2 and €220/m2. m2.
This commercial dynamism does not seem to be reducing, nor does the tourist attraction of a city that is already presented as an attraction in all the guides. And in part, the consultants maintain, it is also related to the aspects highlighted by Forbes in 2021, which named València as “the best city in the world to live in, both for its urban attractiveness and its economic dynamism.”
