2023-12-02 13:44:12
The Catalan Federation of Tourist Apartments (Federatur) has criticized the conclusions of the report of Council of Statutory Guarantees on the decree presented by the Government to regulate the sector. The employer has insisted that the main problem with the new regulations is not legal, but lies in its content. He has warned that it will mean the practical extinction of his activity and, therefore, of 46.43% of regulated accommodation in Catalonia. Federatur has appealed to the responsibility of the parties because do not validate the decree and has insisted on the need to start a “transparent” parliamentary process with the participation of independent experts·. Federatur has recalled that the economic impact of the activity was 21 million euros in 2022.
The sector has insisted that its position against the decree focuses on the substance and not on the form. David Riba, president of Federatur, has stated that his main concern is not legal, but lies “in the thousands of small and medium-sized Catalan companies that in a period of five years they will be forced to close because of the new regulation”.
He recalled that Catalonia has a total of 95,688 homes for tourist use, which represents 526,284 places, 46.43% of the total tourist accommodation places in the territory. “We represent 2.56% of the total housing stock in Catalonia, a proportion so low that in no case it can have an impact on the lack of housing“, insisted the president of Federatur.
Federatur has indicated that the most significant example of this “little or no incidence” is the case of Barcelona, where licenses for new tourist homes have been frozen since 2014, a fact that makes its responsibility in the current increase in prices in the city.
He also recalled that it is estimated that in 2022 the economic impact, direct and indirect, of houses for Catalan tourist use was around 21 million euros. He added that these figures mostly is allocated outside the accommodationsince 74.3% corresponds to expenses incurred by travelers in commerce, restaurants, cultural visits or tourist attractions, among others.
Possible legal actions
Despite the opinion known on Friday, Federatur continues to insist on requesting the non-validation of the decree-law and being able to start a transparent parliamentary process with the participation of independent experts from the different sectors affected. “We bet on one fair and equitable regulation that avoids the disappearance of an accommodation alternative that generates wealth and economic activity directly and has a lot of impact on local shops and businesses”, pointed out Riba. At the same time, he indicated that a regulation is necessary to carry out a prior analysis and an in-depth diagnosis of the situation.
In addition, he explained that the legal team of the federation is assessing the possible legal actions to undertake in the event that the decree-law ends up being approved during the coming weeks in Parliament. “There are many aspects that the Council of Statutory Guarantees has not analyzed or has done so in a non-rigorous way”, considered Riba who said that “if the rule ends up being validated like this, the appearance of new litigation in the municipalities affected will be guaranteed”.
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