Alex Trelinski
VALENCIA’S mayor, Maria Jose Catala has announced a year-long moratorium on tourist apartment licences covering private buildings administered by owner communities and ground floors of commercial premises.
“We are acting in the face of the growing phenomenon of tourist apartments,” the mayor said on Friday.
More details will be announced at a plenary session of Valencia City Council on Tuesday.
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The proposed pause on tourist apartment licensing does not apply to buildings approved for holiday accommodation.
Maria Jose Catala said: “There have been 197 inspections of accommodation since last summer and 160 closure orders have been issued over unlicensed apartments.”
“I don’t want illegal tourist apartments to proliferate, we want controlled growth and quality tourism,” she added.
The president of the Valencian Association of Short-Term Rental Housing (Avaec), Eric Sanjaime, criticised the announcement.
“There has been no meeting with the sector to seek real solutions”, he complained.
“We fear that that Catala’s real intention is not about regulating tourism, but the interest of hotels.”
Sanjaime accused the mayor of hypocrisy by celebrating higher visitor numbers and the planned expansion of Valencia Airport, but then ‘cutting off those who can serve the demand for accommodation’.
Maria Jose Catala also talked about restrictions on mega-cruise ships, describing ‘floating cities as bad’ and stated that ‘in 2026 the possibility of these ships coming to Valencia will be limited”.
She added that smaller ships with a ‘different type of profile that obviously generate wealth in the city, will be maintained’.
