'Covid created an opportunity': Lisbon turns 20,000 tourist flats into homes

Initiative offers landlords the option of renting their properties to the city for a minimum of five years

For centuries, the maze of narrow, cobbled streets that make up Lisbon’s Alfama neighbourhood has told the story of the city’s past. But in recent years, as trendy cafes and tourist flats proliferated, the historic quarter began telling a worrying tale of the city’s future.

A rapid transformation had rippled across the city centre as Airbnb-style tourist rentals swelled to a third of the properties. As locals found themselves priced out and communities began hollowing out, many began grumbling about the aftershocks of terramotourism – a tourism earthquake.

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from The Guardian https://ift.tt/36p3wgV