The platform Airbnb has removed more than 60,000 illegal tourist rental spaces in the Illes Balears during this legislature, according to the island councils and the Government in the framework of the policy to combat irregular supply. The figure was highlighted by the President of the Government, Marga Prohens, during her speech at the Fira de Turisme de Menorca, held in Alaior.

The Consell de Mallorca will relaunch the call for applications to allocate tourist rental units after technical issues forced the cancellation of the previous process. The new call for applications will be voted on next Wednesday at the meeting of the governing board of the Consortium of Tourist Accommodation Exchange (CBAT).

The Consell de Mallorca will not reduce the number of tourist accommodation places on Mallorca during this legislative term, as the island institution's governing team had repeatedly promised. "We do not consider a formal reduction of the capacity ceiling through the Tourist Area Intervention Plan (PIAT) to be urgent because the Government's containment decree prevents growth in accommodation places and orients the model towards quality and order," stated the Island Councillor for Tourism, Guillem Ginard. Thus, the promise made by the president of the island institution, Llorenç Galmés, in July 2024 – who assured that would reduce the number of tourist accommodations from 430,000 to 412,000 – would be unfulfilled.

A real estate developer has filed a legal appeal against the decision by the Consell de Mallorca (Island Council of Mallorca) to cancel the call for applications for tourist rental units managed by the Consorcio Bolsa de Alojamientos Turísticos (CBAT). The company has filed the appeal with the Court of First Instance, Administrative Litigation Section No. 1 of Palma, challenging the October resolution that declared it impossible to process the application. According to the Official Gazette of the Balearic Islands (BOIB) published this Tuesday, the CBAT has notified the appeal and has instructed all interested parties, as well as the individuals and entities that had applied for units, to appear before the court within a maximum of nine days. The cancellation of the call for applications occurred after several computer errors prevented the correct processing of applications for tourist rental units. This situation has generated criticism from the sector: the employers' association Habtur described the annulment as "scandalous and unjustified" and questioned why similar problems had not been detected in the management of tourist accommodation units for hotels and listed buildings. The legal appeal now opens a new chapter in the management of tourist rental units in Mallorca, while developers and industry associations continue to demand action. greater transparency and efficiency in the CBAT processes.

The Governing Board of the Consortium of Tourist Accommodation Places (CBAT), an agency of the Mallorca Council's Tourism Department, agreed this Thursday to postpone the call for applications for existing places, which had been scheduled for this Saturday. According to a statement from the island institution, the Mallorca Council's Tourism Department, in conjunction with the Island Directorate of Modernization, Transparency, and Innovation, is working on a more reliable and secure procedure to ensure equal opportunities for all applicants in the application process for tourist accommodation places in Mallorca. The decision stems from the need to implement a new, robust, and advanced technological procedure that guarantees legal certainty and maximum reliability in the allocation of tourist places, both in hotels and holiday rentals. This initiative, the institution indicated, takes on special relevance in the context of the new tourist accommodation management model approved by the Consell de Mallorca last June. The need to implement this system became clear after difficulties were encountered in previous processes. The Island Councillor for Tourism, José Marcial Rodríguez, highlighted the department's efforts to transform this challenge into an opportunity for innovation. "The fundamental objective is to guarantee the utmost transparency in the process and offer all applicants equal opportunities to obtain accommodations," he asserted. Habtur considers the postponement "scandalous and unjustified."

Habtur deemed the CBAT's decision to postpone indefinitely the call for applications for the pool of tourist accommodation places, scheduled for January, "scandalous and unjustified," leaving the tourist accommodation sector in a state of uncertainty. According to a press release from the tourist accommodation association, after waiting for months for an announcement, the Consell "has once again failed the families who depend on holiday rentals." Habtur described this decision as an "unacceptable affront," especially considering that the September call for applications, they said, "worked perfectly" for hotels and cultural heritage sites. The organization pointed out that "certain types of accommodation have received preferential treatment," while holiday rentals have continued to be "perpetually forgotten." Furthermore, they denounced that "not only are small owners being discriminated against," representing 99 percent of the sector, but that "any predictability in the CBAT's public management has been destroyed."

]]> I've read the draft agricultural bill from top to bottom, along with hundreds of comments. There's a consensus in both criticism and praise. What hasn't gone down well is Minister Joan Simonet's attempt to solve the agricultural sector's income problems by bringing in tourists. From hotel owners to some in the agricultural sector, everyone believes this isn't the way to promote agricultural production.

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The Union of Farmers of Mallorca, Asaja Baleares, UPA-AIA, and Agri-food Cooperatives maintain that the future Balearic agricultural law will be "a tool of the sector and for the sector" and have criticized other groups for "wanting to dictate" the future of farmers, ranchers, and cooperatives in the Islands. It should be noted that this legislation will allow up to 10 tourist accommodations on each farm.

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The Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and the Natural Environment, Joan Simonet, acknowledged this Wednesday that, as the ARA Baleares announced this weekend, with the approval of the new agrarian law Tourist places will be increased from 6 to 10 on farms with preferential or priority status—those professionally engaged in agriculture.

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The computer system that the Council uses to award the 1,570 tourist places that went on sale this September continues to fail. After canceling calls for applications due to computer errors on the platform, the PSIB suspects that "there may be interested people who cannot access the system," said the Socialist spokesperson for the island institution, Catalina Cladera.

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