The growing battle between Spain and tourists has been ongoing for years, particularly in the ever-popular city of Barcelona. Clashes between locals and travelers have been making the news. Things have gotten so bad that Barcelona was even featured in the 2025 edition of the Fodor's Travel annual No List which highlights where tourists shouldn't go, primarily due to issues related to over-tourism. The Spanish government is apparently trying to prove Fodor's point.
Introduced in January 2023, Royal Decree 933/2021 forces tourist-related businesses to report information on travelers using their services. This includes hotels, car rental agencies, and travel agencies. Data they are required to report includes, but is not limited to, contact information, travel patterns, traveler relationships, and financial information. The decree is set to go into effect on December 2, 2024 with no signs of a change in course coming.
Critics have pointed out that both the amount and variety of data being reported to the government is excessive and may even break various privacy laws. It also leaves travelers open to severe cybercrime issues should the data be compromised in any fashion. The Spanish Parliament and Senate as well as numerous professional tourism groups have called on the Spanish Government to reevaluate this policy as it will likely harm tourism in the country.
Reputedly, the goal of Royal Decree 933/2021 is to protect the country and its citizens by collecting data that could be used to track dangerous patterns in travelers. How that will be accomplished is unclear as the potential to abuse the data is incredibly high. It remains to be seen if this measure will lead to an increase in safety for Spanish residents or if it will be more harmful in the long-term as the policy can also be used to collect such data on locals.