The Mayor of Malaga, Francisco de la Torre, on Thursday asked the President of Government, Pedro Sánchez, to approve a tax for tourist residences. Thus, De la Torre defended this legislative change so that a tax could be instituted on overnight stays in tourist residences because it “would provide a very appropriate and very flexible response” to this problem. “I see it so clearly and so easily,” De la Torre said.
“So that there is no demonization of tourist habitat, I understand very well that millions of euros can be generated, I am not saying huge figures, but it is important that this can help a few thousand families Malaga residents who need it to pay their rent. If it is possible, why not start it? » asked the mayor.
This was what De la Torre said after learning that he had sent a letter to the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, asking him have a legal framework which makes it possible to establish a tax on overnight stays in tourist residences and which would be used to subsidize rentals for families who, due to their economic or social situation, have great difficulty accessing housing. Remember that he also sent letters to the Ministries of Tourism and Housing.
Hotels
Asked whether the rate should also be applied hotelsAs stated by the Ministry of Tourism, De la Torre expressed the opinion that “now what is urgent” for Malaga is that the tax can be set in terms of tourist accommodation where I try to guarantee that the tourism sector tourist accommodation sees this well and sees it as positive for their own sector.
“If I had tourist accommodation, let me speak in these terms, I would be the first to ask for it. The tourist will pay for itnot the owner and the tourist will understand it perfectly. This will generate resources to mitigate, reduce the problem generated by the existence of tourist accommodation,” he said.
De la Torre also spoke about the meeting he had with the Association of Housing and Tourist Apartment Professionals of Andalusia, which he described as “interesting and fruitful”. “We will still have other meetings,” he noted. At this point, De la Torre emphasized “the positive role that tourist accommodation plays in tourism played and plays”, alluding to the fact that “it fills the void caused by the non-existence of a sufficient hotel network in Malaga to meet tourist demand”.
However, he pointed out that during the meeting they also talked about the fact that part of these houses before “perhaps” were in long term rental and if the question of tourist accommodation was not there, they could be for long-term rental. “The supply of long-term rental housing has decreased, for this reason, and when there is increasing demand, this puts pressure on prices,” explained the mayor.
He therefore stressed that it must be a provision at national levelbeing a finalist tax and, although he clearly expressed the commitment of Malaga City Hall to his destination, he declared that He does not know whether the law can “determine the exact destination” of the profits.
Advice
On the other hand, he is asked if he will also send the letter to Andalusian Government, De la Torre explained regarding local finances that it is the Central Executive that must do it, specifying that there are autonomies that have imposed tourist taxes: “What I want is that the question not at regional level“, he stressed.
“I think in the time we waited, whether the Council did it or not. “It wasn’t like that,” he said before adding that, in his opinion, it was “much better.” propose a mechanism which allows municipal responses such as the legal framework that is the local Treasury law.
Ban tourist accommodation
On the other hand, questioned by the process of extending the ban on tourist accommodation To the entire city, De la Torre advocated “to stop, to see, to analyze, to know statistically, to see the illegals, to eliminate the illegals and to know exactly how they operate.”
“I think that in the statistics we lack a lot of information“, he said, after which he also recommended seeing how the Andalusian Government proposes and reflects on new actions in this matter. “What I asked for is that we see from the start a legal way to say that nothing more is done,” he said.
At this stage, the objective is to see how the measures adopted facilitate the rental of housing in the longer term. “It will be easier to achieve If the government corrects or change the law at national level and ensure legal certainty”, concluded the Mayor of Malaga.
