A row has broken out in Spain after the mayor of Malaga, Francisco de la Torre, renewed his push to introduce a tourist tax, which he claims would ease the city’s housing crisis. Speaking at the Greencities Urban Intelligence & Smart Mobility forum, De la Torre proposed a charge of about £2,61 to £3,48 per night for visitors staying in tourist accommodation. The funds, he argued, would be used to support families struggling to afford rent.
He said: “With just a few euros per night, we could make a meaningful difference for those facing housing insecurity.” He added that the funds could also help improve the city’s image and local services. The mayor added that he has already sent letters about the subject to Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and other ministers.
The proposal comes amid growing tensions in Malaga over the impact of mass tourism on local housing availability. The city has reportedly already cancelled nearly 4,000 tourist licenses, and a three-year freeze on new short-term rental permits is now in place to preserve long-term housing for residents.
However, industry group AVVA-Pro (Asociación de Viviendas Turísticas de Andalucía), which represents around 15,000 holiday accommodations and 72,000 homes across Andalusia, stressed that any such measure must be introduced “fairly, equally and with full agreement across the sector.”
In a statement, the association said a tourist tax should not unfairly target one type of accommodation over another and called for “real consensus” before implementation.
It acknowledged that the revenue generated from the tourist tax could be used for public services, social housing initiatives, or quality-of-life improvements, but only under a balanced and consultative framework.
On the other hand, the Association of Hoteliers of Costa del Sol, AEHCOS, which represents over 80% of the tourist accommodation in the province of Málaga, has voiced strong opposition to the measure.
In an official statement, the employers’ association has expressed its “categorical opposition” to the approval of this measure, arguing that it would have “negative consequences for the tourism industry.”
The organisation believes that this would be a tax “with no immediate return for the tourism industry and no guarantees of increasing the housing stock.”
Aehcos president José Luque said: “We are aware of the local government’s deficit in providing services to its citizens, but the approval of the tourist tax would have a very negative impact on the competitiveness of the sector and, by extension, on the local and regional economy as a whole.”
This is not the first time that the mayor of Málaga has urged for a tourist tax to be implemented. Last year, he also sent a letter to Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, calling for the creation of a legal framework that would allow Málaga to introduce a tourist tax of €2 to €3 per person, per night, on stays in both hotels and short-term rentals.