In the Javea council plenary session held yesterday, the PSOE housing spokesperson, Vicent Miralles, asked to stop the granting of new licenses for tourist rentals in the face of the great growth in recent months, just as other municipalities such as Dénia, Altea or the Balearic Islands, among others.
Miralles explained that currently, “Javea has 6.073 holiday homes, 587 new since January, of which 268 since last May, which is 27% more than the same period in 2023.”
The Socialist Party asks “to stop to reflect and not die of success.” According to the data, the socialists state that “almost 1 in every 4 houses in Javea is dedicated to tourism, which collapses public services and generates coexistence problems by not being able to offer reasonable rents.”
The Municipal Socialist Group stressed that last May, when they presented a motion to put a stop to tourist licenses, the government team agreed, “but as of today nothing has been done yet.”
Councilor Vicent Miralles explained that “this moratorium does not cause any harm to tourism. The influx to Javea would not decrease by a single visitor nor would a single euro of business volume be lost. It is just about not growing more without a plan, without meaning and at the cost of ending our model of life; not to continue expelling the people of Javea and worsening coexistence, services and the conservation of natural spaces.
Faced with this request, the government team recognises the increase in tourist housing but assures that it is not a problem of the last year, “of course they have increased, but it is not a figure from this legislature, this has already happened before.
In fact, Javea has always had tourist rentals, for weeks, in the chalets, the only thing that was previously controlled only by agencies and now with digital platforms there is more diffusion,” indicated the Councilor for Urban Planning, Pere Joan Sapena. Sapena also pointed out that due to tourist rentals, homes that were closed have been given life.
Still, it is clear that this issue is losing control and requires some limitations. From the popular ranks they indicated that a meeting is planned to study this issue, which, remember, is pending regional legislation.
The following video was made by the BBC in July 2024.
The Spanish economy has been growing faster than most of its European neighbours recently – and that’s in great part due to its tourism industry. Tourism contributes around 13% of GDP growth to the country’s economy thanks to a model based on sand, sea and sun.
This year, nearly 100 million foreign visitors are expected – a new record – and not everyone is happy about the influx of tourists. Anti-tourism protests have been taking place across many parts of the count§y, including popular destinations Barcelona and Malaga.
Source:Javea.com
