The Canary Islands Vacation Rental Association ASCAV has presented this Monday an extensive report on the Law of Sustainable Planning of Tourist Use of Housing, which has been accompanied by attached numbers and external studies in this regard.
ASCAV is forceful: "This project, far from seeking consensus, seems to be the bill of confrontation."
"From minute one, 68% of the citizens who were publicly consulted (5,083 consultations) were strongly against the preliminary draft, as stated in the Transparency Portal of the Government of the Canary Islands itself. But they were not the only ones, ASCAV, FECAM, FECAI, CEOE, the Economic and Social Council, the Associations of Real Estate Agencies of both provinces, the College of Property Administrators, the Canary Islands Confederation of Entrepreneurs, the Construction Federations of both provinces and a long etcetera also spoke out against it," they say.
They state that "the report of the College of Economists of Las Palmas confirms that 89% of the VV that exist in the Canary Islands are in the hands of small owners. That 64% of the VV that exist in the Canary Islands are in the 14 tourist municipalities. The rest, 36% of VV in the Canary Islands are distributed in 74 municipalities of the islands, in which the VV barely exceed 2% of the total housing stock. Therefore, the removal of housing for residents is more than residual."
"The VV generates 3% of the GDP of the Archipelago and generates thousands of jobs. The report of the College of Economists of Las Palmas also reflects that tourists who stay in VV generate more spending outside the accommodation, 51.4% compared to 34.85% of hotels," they state. "Without a doubt, this bill will fundamentally harm the small owner," they believe.
They also state that a "call effect has been provoked because, since the preliminary draft was announced, more than 15,000 new registrations have been registered 'just in case', which are not even being marketed on platforms."
"There are many irregularities and not only legal ones. Among many others, the Ministry of Tourism stated that this bill would not have an economic impact on public coffers and the Ministry of Finance and Relations with the EU flatly denied it, stating that it would not only have a direct impact on the IGIC due to a decrease in lodging capacity, but also due to a decrease in IRPF collection, as shown in the documents that ASCAV accompanies these statements," they defend.
Likewise, "the Bolkestein Directive has not been complied with at the European level. Specifically, article 15.7 has been violated. Any restriction on the free provision of services and activities of any regulation must be communicated to the Commission and this law includes numerous restrictions on the activity of VV that have not been communicated as established by European regulations," they say.
"From ASCAV, it has been broken down article by article. There are numerous illegalities that not only violate municipal and state powers, but also violate the Constitution itself and European regulations, as already stated. The objective for ASCAV is very clear: "what is being pursued is the elimination of VV from the Canary Islands", as they have stated from minute one," they say.
Therefore, ASCAV has requested that this bill be archived and that a "real" process of consensus and active dialogue be initiated to agree on a future text among all. It is requested that "new VV registrations be suspended for a maximum time of one year so that the "call effect" that has occurred since the development of this regulation was promulgated is not continued."
ASCAV is very clear and forceful in this regard: "No more confrontations and no more impossible impositions." "We must be able to reach a consensus for the good of all, not only of the owners and managers, because this regulation will affect all citizens," they ask.
"Without VV, neither young people, nor families, nor the Canary Islands middle classes will be able to afford to travel if the Government of the Canary Islands bows to the demands of the hotel employers, who ask for "less supply and more price." Therefore, it not only affects one sector; but the whole of Canary society," they state.
"Once again, ASCAV extends its hand to the Government of the Canary Islands, as it has been doing for more than 13 years. Let the regulatory framework be reconsidered, but not from imposition and with urgency. At stake is the economic impact generated by vacation rentals in the Canary Islands, which according to the Ministry of Tourism itself amounts to more than 1,700 million euros. Therefore, we must have a broad vision and be able to reach an agreement, not only with the only Association that defends the sector. Also for the rest of the sectors, such as rentacar, commerce, leisure, cleaning and maintenance companies, laundries, etc., which directly or indirectly benefit from the benefits of this activity," they conclude.
"Tourism is the heritage of all Canary Islanders and vacation rentals are the only modality that redistributes wealth among Canary Islands families and shares it with all the subsectors that benefit from it. In addition, the corresponding taxes are collected here and paid here so that the whole of society benefits," they conclude.