The congress, he stated, "has served to verify the evolution of a professional sector about which there is now greater awareness on the part of authorities in Europe". "Tourist demand is moving in this direction, and there is no doubt that holiday rental accommodation will define international tourism models in all destinations."
Attended by the Balearics holiday rentals association Habtur, the congress elected a new president of the Fevitur national federation. Miguel Ángel Sotillos, taking over from Mallorcan Tolo Gomila, said that the congress "is essential in demonstrating the solidity, quality and professionalism of the sector in Spain in addition to the high-level employment it creates with highly trained people". "This is a sector of importance to the national tourism model, making a key contribution to the economy, employment and social progress."
At the congress, it was shown that holiday rentals generate a spend per stay that is 23% higher than that of hotels. Thirty-three per cent of the spend is for accommodation, with 67% going on restaurants, shops, leisure, transport, culture and other tourist services.
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Mallorca enjoys a very healthy private holiday let business. But most of those were established before the new licencing laws, which impose roughly 3000€ per bed space in fees to obtain the licence. Needless to say, new licences are rare, if at all. I can fully understand and support the notion of licensing. It raises standards and minimises fraud. But these costs are prohibitive. We can't expect any new, respectable private holiday villas to be offered. And that's a shame, because the quality of accommodation and the tourists they attract are precisely the ones Mallorca wants. And they book in the winter too. And spend more money locally. Just what the doctor ordered. There's some signs that turismo is finally waking up to this. Whether it changes anything remains to be seen.
Yes private apartment and villa rentals should have been an integral part of the Majorca Tourist promotion plan but were pushed out by the “todo incluidos “ hotel groups bringing high volume low spending budget tourists. If the Balearic Government wants to encourage the high spending independent tourist, it has a strange way of showing it ! Already the shuttle bus transfers for the independent tourist has finished already so Majorca will be missing out on the half term visitor that aren’t travelling all inclusive. People renting apartments or villa’s are just not interested in mass market hotels. The legislation on private rentals should be recinded well before next season and a simple health and safety inspection together with a simple tax and allowance regime could revitalise the tourist market here especially in the winter months. Unless action is taken urgently property owners like me will simply sell up and add to the general decline in visitors to Majorca. Also the proposed EES has not gone down with prospective visitors next year, so another black mark for Majorca and it’s EU masters. Wake up Majorca before it’s too late to save your tourist industry.
I understand why this is banned in residential blocks in Palma but for the tourist resorts these should be welcome. The hotels don't like them because they're not the ones getting the money. I still remember a story about the hoteliers federation blaming overcrowding on holiday flats, on the same page there was an article about 4 new hotels being built. You couldn't make it up.
Those who are in that business have known this for years. Only lately is the government waking up to this reality, after the hoteliers successfully lobbied to make it prohibitively expensive to licence a holiday let.