Malaga's tourism sector questions effectiveness of moratorium on hotels and tourist flats

Both organisations question the effectiveness of this measure and maintain that restricting tourist activity will not solve the housing crisis in the city.

Aehcos highlights the lack of correlation between the assessment the city council applied and the measure.

"The report focuses its analysis on the development of tourist accommodation, without providing an equivalent assessment of regulated tourist accommodation establishments. Despite this failure to distinguish between them, the suspension applies across the board to all forms of tourist accommodation, affecting hotels, apartment hotels, hostels, guesthouses, youth hostels and regulated holiday flats," Aehcos states.

According to the association, it is inappropriate to impose a blanket restriction, without taking into account the effects on the various types of accommodation, and cite figures from the Andalusian tourism register for April 2026, which show that hotel establishments in Malaga accounted for 18,235 beds, compared with 64,760 beds in holiday rentals.

Aehcos says that the measure had not been justified, nor had its economic consequences been properly assessed.

The association warns that "restricting the creation of new accommodation may discourage investment, undermine Malaga's competitiveness as a destination and hamper the strategy to reduce seasonality". It points out that the city could lose its capacity to meet demand from key sectors such as conferences, trade fairs, major events and sporting competitions.

In response to the moratorium, Aehcos is calling on the authorities to tackle the root of the problem by speeding up the development of social housing and affordable housing, both to rent and to buy, as well as by streamlining the administrative procedures for urban development projects.

As a solution, the organisation advocates planning that encourages the decentralisation of tourism to other neighbourhoods in order to reduce pressure on the city centre.

"Housing development and tourism are perfectly compatible if planned properly," the organisation's representatives states.

AVVAPro considers that a decision of this magnitude must be supported by a comprehensive technical, legal and economic justification, as well as a rigorous analysis of its impact on the city and economic activity.

The association is calling for a review of the automatic classification of tourist accommodation properties under the "accommodation" land-use category.

It is also calling for a review of the scope, duration and necessity of the licence suspension, as well as its coordination with other measures already affecting new tourist accommodation properties in Malaga.

Business leaders recognise that the housing situation requires a comprehensive assessment. They point out that difficult access is a problem with multiple causes.

"The shortage of supply, the limited construction of new homes, the lack of land zoned for housing and the administrative hurdles that have built up over the years are factors that must be analysed alongside the tourism sector," they say.

"A moratorium may be a temporary measure to bring order to the sector, but it does not in itself solve the housing problem unless it is accompanied by policies that effectively increase supply," they state.

The submissions call for the methodology of the tourism pressure index to be supplemented, for the studies the city council refers to to be included in the case file and for justification to be provided for the application of restrictions of equal severity in neighbourhoods with different circumstances.

AVVAPro states that, before imposing blanket restrictions, the city council should consider less restrictive alternatives.

According to the association, restrictions need to be "justified on grounds of general interest and meet the criteria of necessity, suitability and proportionality".

"Regulation is not simply a matter of banning. Effective regulation requires justification, assessment and the selection of the most proportionate solution," the association states.

The employers' organisation warns that the suspension of new developments, which could last up to three years, is causing uncertainty for owners, managers and small businesses involved in the professional management of holiday accommodation.

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