A holiday booking platform has clamped down on thousands of illegal holiday lets in Spanish tourism hotspots after pressure from the country’s officials. Major travel agency Booking.com has removed 4,000 illegal rental listings from the Spanish market, with the majority located in the Canary Islands, according to reports. The archipelago, southwest of mainland Spain, is among the European regions struggling the most with an influx of international visitors, following a record-breaking 1.55 million foreign arrivals in March 2025.
Spain’s Ministry of Consumer Affairs increased pressure on online platforms including Booking.com to remove illegal holiday lets after protests erupted across the country earlier this month, calling for action to save a housing market that is buckling under the demands of ever-growing tourist hordes. The 4,093 listings removed by the rental provider didn’t have a valid registration or licence number or failed to confirm whether a property was managed by an individual or a company, the ministry said.
The disclosure of such information is mandatory for short-term lets under Spanish law, and officials hope that cooperating with booking companies will go some way to tackling the rental crisis that has seen residents priced out of the housing market by wealthy expats and visitors embarking on temporary stays.
Spain’s Minister for Consumer Affairs, Pablo Bustinduy, said the clampdown was a “positive step” in reducing housing shortages in popular holiday resorts around the country.
“This kind of unregulated activity puts pressure on the local housing market and reduces the availability of affordable homes for residents,” he told the Canarian Weekly.
Alongside thousands of illegal rentals listed in the Canary Islands, Booking.com has removed unlawful adverts registered in regions across the country, including Asturias, Cantabria, Castilla y León, La Rioja, Navarra and Castilla-La Mancha.
It comes just days after the ministry won a High Court request for fellow short-term let provider Airbnb to remove over 65,000 listings in Spain which it said did not meet the legal requirements for online listing.
Mr Bustinduy told the Associated Press earlier this month that there was a direct correlation between the rise in popularity of short-term lets in Spain and rising rental and housing costs.
“Obviously there is a correlation between these two facts,” he said. “It’s not a linear relation, it’s not the only factor affecting it, there are many others, but is obviously one of the elements that is contributing.”
“Tourism is for sure a vital part of the Spanish economy. It’s a strategic and very important sector,” he added.
“But as in every other economic activity, it must be conducted in a sustainable way. It cannot jeopardise the constitutional rights of the Spanish people. Their right to housing, but also their right to wellbeing.”