Criticism of Spain's new tourist registration rules heightens as start date is delayed

Spain’s hospitality industry has heightened its criticism this week of the government’s new regulations regarding the registration of guests at tourist accommodation in the country, despite the government delaying their implementation by two months.

The controversial new rules, part of a modification of Real Decreto 933/2021, refer to the information about guests that hotels and other types of accommodation must send to the authorities and were due to come into force on 1 October.

The Interior Ministry announced on Monday, however, that the start date had been put back until 2 December for technical reasons, to allow the industry more time to set up the data exchange system in regions that have their own regional police forces, the ministry told Europa Press.

The Spanish confederation of hotels and tourist accommodation, Cehat, has repeated its rejection of the new rules this week. According to the organisation, which represents some 16,000 businesses around the country, the problem does not lie in the lack of time for technological adaptation, but in the contents of the law itself, which it considers to be “incompatible with the reality of the tourism industry”.

Cehat said that the rejection of the decree is unanimous both in Spain and in the European Union, due to the “legal insecurity, the lack of clarity in the text and the extra administrative burden”.

The new rules will mean that properties must share more information about their guests and their reservation with the authorities through a new digital application.

Cehat has said that the rule had already created enormous tension in all sectors of tourism, from hotels to travel agents and tourist let platforms.

Industry bosses have also raised concerns that it could violate EU data protection directives.