The city of Malaga (Andalusia) is to ban new short-term apartment rentals to tourists in 43 of its neighbourhoods, the latest move in the country to limit holiday flats. ALSO READ: Spanish government to limit short-term rentals and tourist flats to address housing crisis.
Under new rules approved by the city council’s planning commission, no new holiday apartments will be permitted in target neighbourhoods where more than 8% of all homes are let out on a short-term basis, said a city hall statement.
The 43 neighbourhoods include the old town, the La Merced quarter where painter Pablo Picasso was born, as well as Playa del Palo, a traditional seafaring neighbourhood to the east of the tourist-filled city centre.
The aim is to encourage tourists flats to be set up ‘in neighbourhoods with less tourist pressure and are blocked in those where there is a greater number of tourist accommodations’, the statement said.
The city of some 586,000 people has 11,559 registered holiday flats, around 60% of them listed on online platforms, it added.
Short-term holiday rentals account for 65% of total tourist accommodation in Malaga’s centre, according to a study conducted by local authorities.
Other Spanish cities have already cracked down on rented holiday apartments, which many local residents blame for soaring rents and a shortage of affordable housing. ALSO READ: Record number of summer visitors to Spain underlines over-tourism fears.
Barcelona has said it will ban all holiday apartments by 2028 while Madrid, Valencia and the Canary Islands have also tightened rules on short lets following complaints from locals priced out of the housing market. ALSO READ: Barcelona wants to revoke all city’s 10,101 tourist apartment licences by Nov 2028.
Anti-tourism protests have multiplied in recent months across Spain, the world’s second-most visited country after France, prompting authorities to try to reconcile the interests of locals and the lucrative sector.
ALSO READ: Tourists in Barcelona sprayed with water pistols, as 2,800 protest against mass tourism.
ALSO READ: Thousands protest against mass tourism across the Canary Islands.
La Comisión de Urbanismo da luz verde a la prohibición de nuevas viviendas turísticas en 43 barrios de la ciudad. Más información 👉 https://t.co/QVDZtcEuYm pic.twitter.com/FE0TOVvXfS
— Ciudad de Málaga (@malaga) November 18, 2024
Sign up for the FREE Weekly Newsletter from Spain in English.
Please support Spain in English with a donation.
Click here to get your business activity or services listed on our DIRECTORY.
Click here for further details on how to ADVERTISE with us.
