According to the Council of Mallorca the sanctions department of the Department of Tourism has initiated this procedure for tourist infringement to the flats that were marketed in Palma, in the same building. The island’s councillor for Tourism, José Marcial Rodríguez, expressed his satisfaction with the action taken by the department’s inspection and sanctions service and stressed that “illegal supply, regardless of the sector in which it operates, is not only a very harmful unfair competition for all those who do things well on the island, who are the vast majority, but a terrible problem for coexistence, something he wants to fight and eradicate”.
Rodríguez added that this cease and desist order, which is accompanied by these sanctions, is the result of a long period of work within the department, which has “scrupulously complied with all the administrative processes”, and which has allowed “as the legal deadlines dictate”, to act in this way.
From now on, the Inspection Department will be responsible for checking that these closures are carried out and if this is not the case, the Tourism Department will be able to take the matter to the Public Prosecutor’s Office. The penalties for illegal tourist rentals on the island are 80,000 euros for each property detected. The fines vary from 40,001 euros to 400,000 euros.
The Balearic Islands are ramping up their economic, technological, and human resources to combat illegal activities in the tourist rental sector. As enforcement efforts intensify and penalties increase, inspectors are uncovering what they describe as organised crime networks involved in holiday rentals. These criminal organisations have discovered a profitable niche in this sector, with a confirmed presence not only in the Balearic Islands but in other regions of Spain as well.
The hotel industry estimates that around 50% of tourist rentals in the Balearic Islands may be operating illegally. This figure, while approximate and difficult to verify precisely, can be reasonably inferred by analysing tourist arrivals and stays in licensed accommodations. Nonetheless, it is generally agreed that the illegal market likely doesn’t reach the 90% level suggested by former Housing Councillor Marta Vidal, who estimated that around 235,000 tourist rentals were unregulated. Although the hotel sector considers this figure somewhat inflated, it shares the broader assessment, especially regarding the challenges in controlling an activity that has surged beyond regulatory oversight in recent years.
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