Which parts of Benalmádena are under pressure due to high percentage of holiday rental properties?

Red, amber, yellow or green - which colours paint the map of Benalmádena? The town hall has recently released the results of a study carried out by municipal officers on tourist accommodation in the municipality. This study is the key to determining measures the council can impose in the short term to legally limit this type of accommodation.

Benalmádena has 49,500 dwellings, according to the data, of which 7,542 are legally registered as tourist accommodation - only 15% of the total. The question is how these properties are distributed. According to the map drawn up by the council, only a few areas of the municipality are coloured red, this being the colour that marks the areas under most pressure due to the very high percentage of tourist housing.

These include the area around the marina, the Benal Beach complex and the Gamonal area. All of them are places that were practically born as tourist areas and have remained so until today. According to the study, tourist accommodation in the main urban centres, such as Arroyo de la Miel, Benalmádena Pueblo or part of Benalmádena Costa is low. This means their presence cannot be affecting the price of rent for residents in the area. Therefore it is not recommended to impose measures to limit tourist housing in these areas.

However, the prospect of measures in some areas has served up some controversy. The Socialists in opposition, is currently showing a map of the municipality, practically dyed red, and claims that based on data from the Spain's national institute of statistics (INE), tourist housing reaches high percentages in almost the entire locality, except in very specific areas such as around Calle Las Flores and the La Leala industrial estate.

This sparked debate at the last council meeting with the Socialists presenting a motion asking the council to take concrete measures to regulate and limit the growth of tourist flats in the town and aid to encourage residential rental, among other issues.

"We are facing a structural problem, with a considerable reduction in sales and long term rentals which have led to a rise in prices. Neighbouring municipalities such as Fuengirola and Torremolinos have already taken measures in this respect," said Socialists councillor María Isabel Ruiz. She also demanded the convening of the sectorial housing council, which has not met since the start of June and which is the body where decisions regarding these issues are agreed prior to a council meeting.

"Between June and September alone, 1,076 tourist accommodation places have been registered in the municipality, that is as if a macro hotel had been built in four months," IU councillor Pablo Centella pointed out. "Tourist flats do not generate employment," he added.

"We share the concern, but we do not want to take hasty measures or take measures contrary to the law," responded councillor for housing José Luis Bergillos, who also called on councillors not to "scaremonger".

"Not all of Benalmádena is under pressure, that is a lie," he said while criticising the Socialists' map and said it "lacked in rigour and professionalism" and was "full of errors on such a serious issue".

Bergillos pointed out there are areas such as the port execution unit which has a saturation of 60% of tourist flats compared to Nueva Torrequebrada which has 16% or Arroyo de la Miel, with less than 5%. "In the classic tourist areas there is very high saturation, but in the residential areas there is not, and therefore the same yardstick cannot be used," he said.