More than three-quarters (76.3 percent) of Spaniards upport the limiting of tourist apartments in Spain, including the Canary Islands, according to a new poll.
A new poll, conducted by the Centre for Sociological Research (CIS) through over 4,000 interviews with adults in July, sheds light on the issues caused by the proliferation of tourist apartments.
The number of apartments now exceeds 350,000 across the country, according to the National Institute of Statistics (INE).
Several regional governments and local authorities have taken actions to restrict short-term rentals, including airbnbs, with the central government also working on the issue.
The Ministry of Housing has arranged a conference with regional presidents to discuss how such rentals are driving up housing prices and affecting residents. The Minister of Industry, Jordi Hereu, also recently emphasised the importance of listening to municipalities most affected by the rise in tourist apartments, particularly in the Costa del Sol, Costa Blanca, Canary Islands and Barcelona.
In response to these concerns, the Island Council of Tenerife, Lanzarote, Fuerteventura, and Gran Canaria have begun pushing for a moratorium – a temporary suspension or delay – on new vacation rental licences in response to mounting pressure to address the housing shortage and rising prices attributed to the increase in short-term rentals.
The CIS survey also revealed preferences for holiday destinations and accommodation types. Nezarly a third (31.3 percent) preferred coastal towns, followed by coastal cities with 19 percent. More than half of the respondents opted for beach holidays. In comparison, only 16 percent preferred mountain villages, and 10.3 percent chose inland cities.
In terms of accommodation, over half of respondents – 45.2 percent – stay in hotels or aparthotels, with 12.5 percent opting for short-term rental properties and holiday homes. Another 12.2 percent stay with family or friends and only 10.8 percent use a second home they own.
The survey, cited by Canarian Weekly, also found that 29.4 percent of Spaniards take a summer holiday between one and two weeks, while 27.8 percent go away for one week and 15 percent for less than a week.
In June, the city of Barcelona announced plans to reclaim over 10,000 short-term apartments for local housing, marking a significant shift in its approach to tourism. The city’s mayor, Jaume Collboni said that by November 2028 the city would revoke the licences.
“We are confronting what we believe is Barcelona’s largest problem,” Collboni said, emphasising the critical nature of the housing issue.
In the popular city of Malaga, holiday lets in residential buildings will soon be required to have separate entrances for tourists to come and go from, applying to those registered after the approval of the tourist housing decree last February.
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