Residents of Valencia’s El Botànic neighborhood protested this week after several decades-old palm trees were removed from the courtyard of two buildings on Calle Túria. The trees were cut down with municipal approval to clear space for an 80-room hotel, intensifying local concerns about the area’s rapid change through tourism development.
The demonstration drew dozens of neighbors and business owners, many dressed in black to mourn the loss of the trees and what they see as a threat to the community’s character. Protesters displayed signs reading “El Botànico en lucha” and “El Botànico no se vende.” Representatives of Compromís and the PSPV joined them, calling for protection against further gentrification.
Residents said the buildings at Calle Túria 49 and 51 were previously home to 16 families, a nursery school and a vegetarian restaurant. After a French investment fund acquired the properties in 2021, tenants were gradually forced to leave as their leases expired, residents said. The new owners obtained municipal permits to redevelop the site as a hotel. The removal of the palm trees marked the start of construction preparations.
The dispute comes amid a wider expansion of visitor accommodation in El Botànic. Levante-EMV has reported 100 tourist apartments, four blocks of tourist apartments and two hotels in the neighborhood, describing a tourism boom that extends beyond Valencia’s historic center. The neighborhood is also among those considered saturated under the city’s tourism-planning structure.
That structure sets three thresholds: tourist places must remain below 8% of registered residents in a neighborhood or district; tourist-use homes must not exceed 2% of residential homes; and tourist accommodation in ground-floor premises must not exceed 15% of premises on a city block. A Levante-EMV analysis notes that areas including El Botànic are already considered saturated and says the rules do not provide a mechanism to reduce accommodation already operating there. The thresholds so guide the city’s limits on further provision, while residents’ concerns also focus on the concentration already present.
Local activists argue that tourist apartments and hotels are displacing long-term residents and undermining small businesses, even as visitor-focused businesses remain. They point to tourism projects planned for Calle Túria and nearby streets, warning that the pressure is spreading beyond the historic center. City officials have said tourist accommodation remains within regulatory limits. Residents counter that the effects are visible in the neighborhood’s changing streets and population.
Political figures at the protest criticized the city administration for declining to exercise its right of first refusal to purchase the buildings for residential use. They argue that the decision allowed the investment fund to proceed with its hotel plans. Residents also lament the loss of the mature palms, which had stood in the courtyard for decades and, information from city authorities, could not be transplanted elsewhere.
National and municipal rules are also changing how new tourist accommodation can be authorized. Following an April 2025 reform of Spain’s Horizontal Property Law, a new tourist-use activity requires express approval from the owners’ community by three-fifths of owners representing at least three-fifths of ownership shares, or 60% under both measures. Communities can limit, condition or prohibit the activity. Legally operating tourist homes that began before 3 April 2025 may be covered by transitional rules.
On 23 October 2026, Valencia’s municipal government approved a motion by Juan Giner, councillor for Urbanism, Housing and Licensing, asking the Generalitat Valenciana to prevent tourist accommodation from being registered in residential buildings when the owners’ community prohibits that use. The proposed process would require applicants to declare that the building’s constitutive title, community statutes or a later community resolution do not bar tourist use. It would cover tourist-use dwellings as well as hotels, groups of tourist apartments and hostels in residential buildings. The motion seeks to give community restrictions weight before registration. It does not itself determine the status of the Calle Túria hotel project.
At the same special housing plenary session, the PP-Vox governing coalition led by Mayor M.ª José Catalá rejected Compromís proposals to cap rents, close all tourist apartments and introduce a municipal tourist tax. The PSPV supported those proposals, which were defeated by the governing majority. The government instead backed the existing planning rules and continued inspections and enforcement against illegal tourist apartments. It also proposed preparing 2027 assistance for owners’ communities seeking to amend their statutes to oppose tourist accommodation in ground-floor premises of mixed residential buildings. Catalá’s government defended the 2024 tourist-apartment moratorium, saying its effects were “already visible.”
Longtime residents say El Botànic’s population is changing, with fewer permanent residents and more short-term visitors. Some say the number of hotel buildings on Calle Túria has risen, further altering the area’s atmosphere. Residents who have reported suspected illegal tourist apartments to the district council say the response has been limited, adding to their frustration.
As in other Spanish cities, Valencia’s tourism growth has intensified debate over housing affordability, neighborhood identity and the balance between economic development and residents’ needs. The city’s approach combines planning limits with community approval for new tourist uses, inspections and possible support for residents seeking to restrict such accommodation. The protest in El Botànic brings those broader questions into focus around one courtyard, its removed palms and a planned hotel.
