Illegal tourism is the “great scourgeThis week the Minister of Tourism of the Balearic Government, Jaume Bauzà , described it as a “great scourge”. Accordingly, this Tuesday the main actors of the tourist sector have alerted the urgent need to to fight against the intrusiveness to avoid “serious problems” in the future. The round table entitled “The future of tourism on the island”, in the framework of the X Congress of Tourist Housing of Ibiza had among its main axes the problem of illegal vacation rentals . There, Pedro Matutes BarcelóCEO of Sirenis Hotels, said that “we must be extremely brave in the fight against illegal holiday rentals”. In addition, he said that the “growing social discontent” that feeds the ‘tourismphobia‘ has a direct relationship with the misalignment between the island’s residents and the tourist. Matutes Barceló warned that, if this is not resolved in the medium term, it will mean that “five years from now we will have a very serious problem”.
Amnesty
In this context, the businessman has suggested an innovative measure: a sort of amnesty for owners caught renting out their homes irregularly for tourism purposes. And, therefore, severely punished.
Matutes proposed that, before a first sanction for a record of intrusiveness, owners may have the alternative to resume the legality and offer the property on the rental market long-term residence, regulated by the Law of Urban Leases (LAU). With that, the owners would avoid the heavy fines established by the Consell de Ibiza or, at least, have significant reductions in penalties, as they would be providing a social benefit in the midst of the housing crisis on the island.
The example of Menorca
The Consell de Menorca has included in the Social Housing Plan 2024-2028, approved last month, the possibility of forgiving the debt of offenders if the owners cede the apartment to the Administration to put them on the market at an affordable price. Although its regulation is still pending, this measure aims to reinforce the inspection and sanctioning of illegal tourist rentals.
How many illegal tourist rentals are there in Ibiza?
As estimated by Juan Miguel Costa, island director of Tourist Promotion of the Consell de Ibiza, there are more than 60,000 vacancies that escape the regulated supply.
The algorithms are simple. Despite the fact that there are some 100,000 authorized vacancies between hotels and holiday homes, in the busiest weeks of the high season there have been more than 320,000 people simultaneously on the island. 320,000 people at the same time on the island, as opposed to the 160,000 people whoThe figures of the association of the five municipalities. The figures of the association
Ocio de Ibiza are somewhat higher. A few weeks ago, in an interview with La Voz de Ibiza , its president José Luis Benítez stated that “saturation is avoided from minute one, prohibiting and persecuting illegal residential tourist rentals. And the moment you stop that, the island will regulate itself again, because we will take another 100,000 places off the market. we will take another 100,000 vacancies off the market.And these 100,000 tourist vacancies, which are illegal, will go to residents and will go to workers, which is what is really needed”.