SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, September 27 (EUROPA PRESS) –
In the coming months, the Ministry of Tourism and Employment of the Government of the Canary Islands will lead the drafting and approval of a law that will regulate the tourist use of housing in the Canary Islands and will give a legal basis to vacation rentals.
This was confirmed this Tuesday in the regional Parliament by the counselor responsible for the area, Jéssica de León, who explained that this initiative will be articulated between different departments of the autonomous Government, as it addresses not only tourism competencies, but also housing, territorial planning , environment or consumer protection.
De León has appeared before the plenary session of Parliament, at the request of the Popular Group, to explain the situation of the vacation rental regulations on the islands, a phenomenon that, he highlighted, has experienced “a notable takeoff in its offer.” and it already represents 33% of the accommodation supply on the islands, with more than 42,000 homes and 179,000 beds, according to data from the National Institute of Statistics (INE) corresponding to 2023.
“These figures place the Canary Islands as the second autonomous community with the highest percentage of tourist housing in Spain, only behind the Balearic Islands,” said De León, who expressed his concern about the growth that has occurred in municipalities such as La Oliva (Fuerteventura). or Yaiza (Lanzarote), in which 30.78% and 17.68% of the homes are used for tourism, respectively.
According to the counselor, despite this increase, which has strained the residential market, vacation rentals are still regulated in the Canary Islands by a regulation that is more than eight years old (Decree 113/2015) and has a “very limited” content that was seen reduced by several rulings, such as the one issued in 2018 by the Supreme Court, which eliminated part of the text.
Furthermore, De León maintained, the decree did not contemplate any planning – neither tourist, nor urban, nor territorial – and the conditions it imposed were “minimum”, without distinction of categories, modalities or any other qualitative standard.
This regulatory deficiency, the counselor clarified, is not exclusive to vacation rentals, but affects tourism legislation as a whole, since the decrees and laws that regulate this activity in the Canary Islands are between eight and 27 years old.
“They were useful at the time but in 2023 they have become obsolete and do not respond to the demands of a society that asks for changes and defends a tourism model that moves increasingly towards sustainability,” De León stressed.
In his opinion, this panorama justifies the promotion of a new norm that is not limited only to updating the vacation rental decree, but is more ambitious and mandates, with the rank of law, the tourist use of housing as a whole.
This initiative will make the Canary Islands the second autonomous community in Spain to regulate this accommodation modality by law – after the Balearic Islands – since in the rest of the country it is regulated through regulations, according to a note from its Ministry.
“There is a reality that we must address head-on, with regulation, without demonizing anyone. Acting with a scalpel, with great care so as not to leave anyone out,” De León explained.
PROTECTION OF SMALL ENTREPRENEURS
The Ministry of Tourism and Employment will be in charge of drafting this law, which will have a marked transversal character.
As part of the first work, this Thursday a study commission will be held in Gran Canaria in which the seven councils, regional and municipal public administrations, sector experts, representatives of universities and professional associations will participate.
De León took advantage of his appearance in Parliament to make it clear that the rule will protect small owners who have a supplement to their rent in this type of accommodation and pointed out that among its objectives, the new law states “putting a stop to irregular supply.” .
“Our sustainability, the protection of the urban environment, the right to decent housing, the quality of life of citizens or employment in the tourism sector are at stake and we cannot look the other way anymore,” concluded the counselor.
