Mallorca's Palma council has come up with a killer blow to solve the short-term tourist rental problems plaguing the city, it is to ban the activity.From July, Palma de Mallorca's landlords are forbidden to rent their apartments to tourists. The measure is aimed at reducing the impact of tourism on residents who are getting priced out of the market.
The ban will be approved this Thursday by Palma's municipal assembly and then will be released for public discussion. Final approval should come through in July, after which it will be possible only to rent out family homes - and only in certain places, such as near the airport and in non-residential areas.
"Palma must be a livable city, the worst that can happen is to see the inhabitants leave," said Antoni Noguera, the president of Palma council.
Jose Hila, second in command at the municipality with responsibilty for the urban environment, said that these tourist zones, "affect social coexistence in the neighbourhoods." Hila guarantees that the new measure will, "protect the residents" of Palma.
According to El Pais, the decision was made following several studies looking at the years between 2015 and 2017 when a 50% increase in the supply of illegal tourist apartments was revealed. There are an estimated 20,000 of these illegally rented apartments and 645 licensed ones.
Barcelona and Berlin already have started to employ some measures to restrict local accommodation as the increase in tourists has led to a reduction in the number of homes available to residents.
Lisbon faces the same problem, with measures urgently needed. The mayor of Lisbon, Fernando Medina, recently said,
Barcelona and Berlin already have started to employ some measures to restrict local accommodation as the increase in tourists has led to a reduction in the number of homes available to residents.
Lisbon faces the same problem, with measures urgently needed. The mayor of Lisbon, Fernando Medina, recently said,
"We need to regulate local accommodation in the areas of greatest pressure, in particular in the historic neighbourhoods and we ask the Assembly of the Republic to legislate to allow the council to be responsible for authorising local accommodation properties," said .
The Lisbon government has set up a working party to look at Alojamento Local short-term tourist rentals but it has yet to offer any suggestions.
