Alex Trelinski
NEW tourist accommodation laws in the Valencian Community are set to be approved on Friday with penalties ranging between €100,000 and €600,000 for the most serious infractions.
Property owners will have to renew letting licences every five years and individual municipalities will be able to set limits on holiday lets as they see fit.
For new homes, a certificate will have to be produced from communities of owners showing they have given permission for tourist rentals.
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Property owners who refuse to comply with the tougher legislation will be prosecuted, with Tourism Minister, Nuria Montes, believing the new measures will ‘flush out’ illegal lets.
“We will show no compassion to illegal renters which will help calm down residents who feel they are being pushed out of their neighbourhoods,” she stated.
Other changes include a ban on installing automatic boxes on outside walls and public areas for people to collect keys to apartments as well as an increase in the number of inspections.
Valencian president, Carlos Mazon, says the region does not have a problem of ‘tourismphobia’ that he says exists in other areas of Spain and has blamed people for wanting to ‘exaggerate’ concerns.
He also praised work done in tourist cities like Benidorm and Torrevieja to achieve a good balance.
In an interview with the Efe agency Mazon described tourism as an ‘industry of happiness’.
“Tourism must prosper in an adequate and sustainable way and protests against mass tourism in Spain appear to vary district by district,” he said.
Mazon- a former president of the Costa Blanca Tourist Board- emphasised that he was in favour of each municipality deciding what it was best for it depending on capacity.
He added that tourist growth in Valencia City was valued but that he totally understood the mayor, Maria Jose Catala, when she wanted a rebalancing like limiting the entry of large of cruise ships.
