Tourists could face a complete ban on holiday apartment lets (Image: Getty)
The government in one of UK tourists’ favourite holiday destinations is considering proposals to tackle by introducing a ban on apartment lets.
Proposals to promote sustainability in the group’s tourism sector will be outlined by officials today – with a lack of affordable housing for locals in Majorca, Ibiza, Menorca and Formentara a driving force in debates on new restrictions.
The archipelago’s governing body is seriously considering bringing in a prohibition of apartment holiday rentals as a way of tackling the housing crisis, according to the Majorca Daily Bulletin.
The local news outlet reported that authorities were “studying legal formulas” to commence such a ban without incurring “compensation demands”.
An “eradication of apartment lets” for non-Balearic tourists is understood to be a “priority objective” of the government – with an archipelago-wide ban extending those currently in place for and Majorca’s capital city, Palma.
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Palma in Majorca introduced a ban on apartment holiday lets in 2018 (Image: Getty)
The Council of Majorca estimates that apartment rentals represent less than 10% of total holiday lets on the island.
After a year that has been dogged by anti-tourism protests from disgruntled locals who believe they’re being priced out of the area, the prospective move is sure to be a popular one, at home if not abroad.
The Majorca Hoteliers Federation criticised the government’s failure to implement such a ban last year, expressing “disappointment” at what they said would be “a golden opportunity to return a huge pool of residential housing to the market”.
Apartment holiday lets were banned in Palma back in 2018, in what then-Mayor Antoni Noguera said would “set the trend for other cities” also struggling with heavy tourist footfall.
The change was described as a reaction to the rise in non-licensed apartments being offered to short-stay visitors through websites and apps.
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While largely welcomed, it was met with some concern about a negative impact on the city’s economy, with small retailer organisation Pimeco telling the that such rentals were an “important source of income” for locals.
In the midst of rising anti-visitor sentiment – for reasons to do with a lack of housing and suffering infrastructure – fresh fears could predict a dip in popularity among holidaymakers sparked by the hypothetical Balearic-wide ban.
For now, though, it seems that the islands will be forced to contend with too many rather than too few tourists this year – with charter airline TUI preparing to carry a to the region in 2025.
The airline announced this week that it expects to bring 2.1 million tourists to the archipelago in 2025 – a 100,000-person increase from 2024, including travellers from the UK, Switzerland, Austria, the Netherlands and Ireland.