A Spanish seaside resort visited by thousands of British holidaymakers each year has become the latest to crack down on tourists.
Alicante Council will not be granting new licences for tourist flats for the next two years.
Urban Planning councillor, Rocio Gomez, said the time would be used to review all the laws regarding tourist lets and “purify all those homes that do not comply with the regulations”.
She added that each of the city’s districts will be studied to establish an appropriate number of holiday homes in each neighbourhood.
Gomez saidshe planned to carry out a public registration census “of all those that do comply with the regulations, to have a competitive and quality market”.
A report on tourist housing by the company Estrategia y Organisation SA estimated the number of tourist flats sits at 4,108 – 2.31% of the total housing stock, and of which 3,292 are not licenced.
“Our main aim is to take care of our neighbourhoods and citizens, always taking into account the tourist character of our city,” added Gomez.
The Vox spokesperson Carmen Robledillo supported “eradicating tourist apartments with more inspections”, as well as “closing and sanctioning illegal ones”.
She also stated that “disastrous policies” have led to “a decrease in residential housing for long-term rental or sale””
Rafa Mas, one of the councillors who abstained from voting, said: “Our neighbourhoods are being occupied and speculators are making housing more expensive.”
Manolo Cope from the EU-Podem party, the only person to vote against the plans, branded the ban as “fictitious” and that in reality it will “regularise the situation of many homes that are currently illegal”.
