Alicante has the capacity to double the number of legal tourist apartments

Alicante has 4,090 legal tourist homes, which represents 2% of the total housing stock, according to the initial data from the report by the Alicante City Tourism Chair. The municipality. With these data, the study gives this sector a growth potential of up to 4,000 more homes, according to this report, reaching 4% of the total number of tourist homes in the city.

This was explained by the Councilor for Tourism, Ana Poquet, in response to journalists' questions at a press conference. The councilor refused to disclose more data until the report is fully prepared in conjunction with Urban Planning.

However, the councilor did not want to anticipate whether this report makes an estimate of the illegal tourist homes in the city. Although she acknowledged that with the regulated tourist home data on the table, it can be predicted that there is a large number of illegal apartments in the city. For example, only on the Airbnb platform, there are more than 10,000 tourist apartments registered in the city of Alicante.

Housing is one of the aspects that have gained strength in the public debate also in Alicante in recent months. Last Saturday, hundreds of Alicante residents demonstrated in the city center for decent housing and against touristification.

The opposition has considered it an "outrage" that the number of tourist apartments in the city could be doubled and that no estimate of the illegal ones is included in the report.

Compromís councilor, Rafa Mas, stated this Monday that he "will break off all negotiations with the PP for the 2025 municipal budgets until the city is declared stressed and taxes are imposed on large holders who do not make their empty homes available for rent."

"People are demanding political solutions to this conflict, which is already a social emergency for young and not-so-young people. Licenses must be stopped, and all illegal tourist apartments must be inspected, fined, and closed. Hotels are for tourists, and homes are for living," he asserted.