Lisbon might enlarge area banning tourist accommodation to Baixa, Graça, Ajuda and others
The areas of Baixa, Avenida da Liberdade, República, Almirante Reis, Graça, Colina de Santana, Ajuda, Lapa and Estrela will be monitored by the city council and might ban new tourism accommodation.
The city council will vote, this Thursday, on a proposal from Medina’s administration which aims at suspending the authorization of new tourist accommodation in some of the areas which have been considered to be under most pressure.
Bairro Alto, Madragoa, Castelo, Alfama and Mouraria are, for now, the neighbourhoods which have decided to not accept any new registrations for at least a year, during which no new licensing for tourist accommodation is allowed.
These containment areas might be enlarged soon, with Baixa, Graça and Ajuda being pointed out as neighbourhoods of the city that might also become protected by this new regulation.
The areas where the suspension of the licensing was proposed are considered to be “at risk of reaching the bare minimum housing use” an urban study from Lisbon tourism’s office, published this Monday, showed.
The city council will as well monitor closely those areas which are considered to be under too much pressure from tourist accommodations, with a significant reflexion on housing for habitational use. Some examples are Baixa, Avenida de Liberdade, Avenida Almirante Reis, Graça, Colina de Santana, Ajuda Lapa and Estrela.
This means that if the situation in terms of tourist accommodation in these areas worsens, these will also be part of the “containment area” which will prevent new lodges and accommodation from popping up.
The Left Bloc has confirmed to ECO that this is what the leftist party defends, and that it will vote in favour of Medina’s proposal, allowing for it to be approved but also demanding an enlargement of the containment areas, with a proposal which the party told ECO it will present.
“It is a positive proposal which represents progress and for that same reason BE is also considering that the containment areas should be increased, reaching other parts of the city, where the number of tourist accommodations is jeopardizing the stability of those residents in those same neighbourhoods”, BE stated.
