PM says property speculation makes Spanish city centres “theme parks”, holidaymakers turn their backs on Barcelona tourist buses, Spain’s FM calls for Spanish to be named one of US’s native languages and more news on Wednesday April 29th.
Barcelona’s tourist bus service loses one million passengers in two years
Barcelona’s hop-on, hop-off style tourist bus is becoming less and less attractive to visitors. The number passengers has plummeted by 40 percent since 2019, and over the last two years the loss of passengers has been particularly pronounced.
In 2025, there were one million fewer tickets sold than in 2023, and the trend shows that the service is losing half a million customers annually, according to data from TMB (Barcelona Metropolitan Transport).
According to Glòria Alarcón, Barcelona’s Tourism Product Director, the high ticket prices could be one of the reasons for the decline. A 24-hour ticket now costs €33 for adults, €28 for seniors, and €18 for children.
Spain’s FM calls for Spanish to be named one of US’s native languages
During a speech at the private Inter-American University of San Juan in Puerto Rico, Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares argued that the Spanish language must be “supported and promoted” within the United States and recognised as one of the US’s languages.
“It is fundamental to continue supporting it in all areas, and to support the political factors that advocate for Spanish as one of the native languages of the United States,” he explained.
Albares began his address by making it clear that Spanish is a global language and the language of the future.
Around 43 million people in the US speak Spanish as their main language, roughly 14 percent of the population. If you factor in those who speak Spanish as their second language, the US is the world’s second-largest Spanish-speaking country after Mexico.
Catholic Church sexual abuse victims to be exempted from paying income tax
The Spanish government has approved a new royal decree stating that victims of sexual abuse within the Catholic Church will be exempt from paying personal income tax.
According to government sources, this “reinforces its commitment to them (the victims) after reaching a historic agreement with the Church”.
“No amount of money can heal the deep wounds inflicted by this tragedy and as the Prime Minister said, nothing can erase what happened. However, the agreement reached, which I believe was necessary, should never have happened and can never be repeated. The testimonies are heart-breaking. When we recognise, support, and stand with the victims, we are making our country better, and the tax system cannot be indifferent to this sensitivity,” stated Spain’s new Minister of Finance Arcadi España.
PM says property speculation turns Spanish city centres into theme parks
Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez recently insisted that more than 60 percent of inequality in Spain is due to the inability to access housing and has warned that speculation is “pushing families out of neighbourhoods and turning urban centres into theme parks”.
During his speech at the ‘Bloomberg CityLab 2026’ forum, Sánchez explained that real estate speculation is destroying “the soul and identity of cities” and argued that in capitals such as Madrid, Budapest and Lisbon, there are families who have to allocate more than 70 percent of their salaries to housing.
He called it a source of social injustice and unrest among citizens and vowed to keep intervening in the market to help try and solve the situation.
