FED up residents have launched a ‘guerrilla campaign’ against tourist apartments in Sevilla after the city pushed close to 100% capacity over the Easter break.
Protesters have scrawled the words ‘Airbnb out!’ across the facades of short-let buildings in black paint, while others sealed key lockboxes shut with silicone in hotspots including the Casco Antiguo, Triana and Alameda.
In the city centre, campaigners daubed a road sign (pictured) with the slogan ‘Guiris, go home’ (‘Foreigners, go home’).
The backlash comes hot on the heels of this year’s Semana Santa, when Seville’s 9,800 tourist flats and 250 hotels were virtually full.
Campaigners say the boom in holiday rentals is forcing long-time residents out of the city centre and sending property prices spiralling, deepening a housing crisis that has priced out young people and vulnerable groups.
One Santa Cruz resident, identified only as Marisol, told Diario de Sevilla: “The only way we can try to stop this is if people stand up for themselves. There are no bakeries left, just souvenir shops and queues for breakfast.
“If we don’t cover the walls, it looks like nothing’s happening. But what’s really happening is that we’re being pushed out.”
According to Diario de Sevilla, the city has the fourth-highest number of illegal tourist rentals in Spain, mainly clustered in the Casco Antiguo, Triana, Nervion and Santa Cruz districts.
Locals warn the trend is turning the Andalucian capital into a ‘theme park,’ as traditional businesses and homes give way to tourist attractions and aparthotels.
The surge in tourist lets has coincided with a spike in housing costs across Seville. Average rents have climbed steadily in recent years, rising from roughly €11 per square metre in 2023 to around €12.6 in 2026 – a jump of more than 13% in just three years, according to market data from Engel & Volkers.
Property prices have also surged, the same dataset showed. The average cost of an apartment has jumped from just over €2,000 per square metre in 2022 to more than €2,700 in 2026 – an increase of roughly 30% in four years.
In 2025 alone, prices rose by as much as 12–13%, marking one of the city’s fastest periods of growth in recent memory.
Spain’s government recently moved to crack down on illegal tourist rentals nationwide, ordering platforms to remove tens of thousands of unregistered listings – a figure widely reported to be around 60,000 properties.
Local councils, including Sevilla’s, have also introduced tougher enforcement measures, such as cutting off utilities to illegal flats and restricting new licences in saturated areas.
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Yet more idiocy from Spaniards blaming tourists for a problem started by, and continued by, their fellow countrymen. If you’re all that worried, don’t sell your properties to foreigners, take less from your fellow citizens. And don’t rent your properties on Airbnb. Very simple to solve these issues. But you will not of course. You’ll take the increased property prices and pocket the extra. Then moan about tourists and foreigners buying your properties.