Air tourists linked to €236 rise in average rent in Spain
A new study by the Federation for Transport and Environment finds a link between the boom in air tourism in seven countries and rising rents and house prices, though it does not fully explain the problem.
The influx of tourists travelling by air is partly to blame for rising rents and house prices across Europe, but particularly in Spain. That is the argument put forward in a study by the New Economics Foundation (NEF), commissioned by the European Federation for Transport and Environment (T&E), and already backed by campaign platforms against property speculation, which have been denouncing the problems caused by short-term lets and home purchases by foreign buyers.
According to the analysis (source in Spanish), between 2019 and 2025 a correlation can be shown between the growth in air tourism in seven European countries – particularly Spain, Portugal, Italy and Greece – and the rise in rents and house purchases. But the reverse is also true, T&E argues: in those countries where this type of tourism has fallen (Belgium, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Poland), house prices have also dropped, albeit more moderately.
In Spain specifically, the 12.8% increase in tourists arriving by air over the past seven years is estimated to have pushed up the average purchase price of homes by €3,800 and added up to €236 more (1.7%) to average rents. Rents could, moreover, rise by a further €217 by 2031 as a result of this factor.
Nonetheless, as we recalled in this other analysis of the housing situation in Spain by the Bank of Spain, the study notes that "the impact will vary significantly between cities and regions depending on their tourism demand". In other words, these figures cannot be applied in the same way to central Valencia as to somewhere like Lugo.
The Bank of Spain’s own report had already highlighted the problem of homes earmarked for tourist or seasonal rentals (around 400,000 properties) or as second homes for Spaniards or foreigners, with an average of 50,000 homes bought each year. This, however, does not fully explain a problem that has become the biggest barrier to maintaining purchasing power in Spain and elsewhere in the world.
The shortage of housing in Spain (especially in cities and autonomous communities under the greatest strain), together with red tape, overlapping regulations between different levels of government, poor urban planning and labour shortages, also help drive the price increases to which the tourism business likewise contributes.
Prices and CO2 emissions are rising, but not wages
The new T&E study also points out that both Madrid-Barajas airport and El Prat in Barcelona are set to overtake Schiphol in Amsterdam over the coming years in terms of tourist arrivals. Barcelona in particular plans to expand its terminals with a controversial redevelopment that could affect the La Ricarda wetlands, although the government led by Salvador Illa insists the project has been redesigned to ensure this does not happen.
Analysts estimate, using Eurostat data and media reports, that over the past five years there were 9.2 tourists for every resident in the Balearic Islands, 4.9 for every inhabitant of the Canary Islands and two for every Catalan, while the European average stands at 0.9. They point out that Spain has invested €12.9 billion in airport infrastructure at Barajas and El Prat.
They also note that in 2025 Spain and Italy exceeded their pre-COVID-19 aviation emissions, standing 14% and 10% above 2019 levels respectively. The tourism sector, they say, was already responsible for 8.8% of global carbon emissions in 2019.
Moreover, wages and productivity are not growing at the same pace as tourist numbers. In 2023, the study notes, hospitality accounted for 10% of all hours worked in Spain but only 5% of national gross value added, highlighting low productivity in the sector. In addition, between 2008 and 2024, real wages in Spain’s hospitality industry recorded a slight decline despite the sharp increase in foreign tourist arrivals and the progressive rise in the minimum wage over the past eight years.
