The Association of Holiday Dwellings (Avat) estimates that in Ibiza there are the same number, or more, of tourist places in legal and illegal holiday homes, according to the president of Avat, José Antonio Llano. The number of legal holiday rental places, set by the Tourism Planning Commission of the Consell de Eivissa, is 20,500 places, so we are talking about at least that number of unregulated places.
The estimate of this figure is based both on the analysis of rental platforms and data on the arrival of travellers to the island. He explains that you only have to "take a look" at the digital rental platforms to see that half of the properties that appear are not regulated, given that those that are, provide their registration number. He also argues that the number of tourists coming to the island is many thousands more than the number of legal places available.
On Thursday and Friday, the association is organising the 4th Ibiza Holiday Dwelling Congress, which will analyse the "panorama of accommodation in dwellings on the island", among other issues.
The association believes that the institutions do not have sufficient means to prosecute the large number of tourist homes in an irregular situation. The Consell "will never be able to control the volume of houses outside the law. And I'm not just talking about flats, but single-family homes that are not registered," says Llano. That is why they believe that "access to new homes that want to enter the sector" should be facilitated.
That is why the association does not agree with the vacancy exchange that was created last May with zero vacancies available. They indicate that if there are no means to pursue these properties and they are not allowed to enter legally "it will remain the same".
"They are homes that are not registered, nor do they pay taxes, nor do they know who is staying in them," explains Llano, so there is an intrusion that harms the administration and the sector.
Although he points out that there is a need for regulation and a limit to the number of tourist places on the island, he believes that the number of places in tourist rental properties should be increased by at least 7,000 or 8,000 places in order to facilitate the flow of illegal properties that can be regularised.
Isaac Vaquer - Ibiza
