An up to date map from Grafcan, the Canary Islands’ Geographic Knowledge Company, which exhibits the distribution of registered vacation properties has highlighted a surge in such properties in each coastal and residential areas. Tenerife, specifically, is residence to a whopping 24,000 vacation let properties within the archipelago.
The map has sparked a heated debate on social media over the quantity on the islands, additional fuelling the continued controversy surrounding such leases.
Critics of the vacation rental business on the Canary Islands usually hyperlink the rising rental costs and absence of long-term housing to the proliferation of vacation properties.
Nonetheless, some organisations have repeatedly disputed this declare, together with ASCAV, the Canary Islands Trip Rental Affiliation.
In March, ASCAV reported that whereas there are some 46,999 registered vacation leases within the archipelago, this determine pales compared to the 211,331 empty properties throughout the islands.
In addition they highlighted that 20 p.c of long-term rental properties have been faraway from the market as a consequence of “authorized uncertainty”, following the introduction of a brand new housing legislation. Many house owners now favor to maintain their properties empty or promote them as a substitute of renting them out long-term underneath the brand new authorized framework, as a consequence of the truth that they’ve little or no safety towards tenants.
Prior to now yr, vacation leases have expanded past conventional vacationer hubs comparable to southern Tenerife and Lanzarote and Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, to extra distant or lesser-known areas. For instance, as much as 50 items at the moment are listed as vacation leases contained in the Teide Nationwide Park in Tenerife.
Even small coastal cities that haven’t traditionally attracted vacationers have seen an increase in vacation leases, together with the village of Bocacangrejo which gained consideration after going viral on social media as a “rainbow village”, which now has 16 vacation items. In Mesa del Mar, 113 vacation properties are registered, with 53 in a single constructing.
Gran Canaria has additionally seen comparable tendencies, with cities comparable to Banaderos reporting over 30 leases, Sardinia del Norte with over 150 and Arinaga with 250 items.
The Grafcan map additionally reveals that Tenerife at present has a staggering 24,000 registered vacation rental properties, Gran Canaria 13,163, Fuerteventura 8,790, Lanzarote almost 8,000, La Palma 1,582, La Gomera 1,061, El Hierro 381, and even La Graciosa, the smallest island, with 216 items.
Alongside the speedy enhance in registered vacation properties, there are considerations about unregistered or unlawful leases. In Bocacangrejo, native authorities have reported the presence of unlicensed vacation leases to the Ministry of Tourism, SEPRONA (environmental legislation enforcement) and coastal authorities.
ASCAV has referred to as on platforms like Airbnb to implement stricter controls on unlawful listings. They’ve additionally welcomed new measures that goal to penalise vacation leases working with out correct licences.
In accordance with official studies, a major variety of vacation leases are believed to be working outdoors the authorized framework, prompting authorities investigations to guard shoppers and implement compliance.
Public opinion stays divisive on the subject, with some welcoming the financial enhance the vacation leases deliver, whereas others fear about their influence on the housing market and native communities.