The ban on tourist rentals in Palma: 18 months, two advertisements and still no paperwork

PalmHe May 29, 2024 And on October 14th of this year. These are the two times that the mayor of Palma, Jaime Martínez, has announced he would prohibit new tourist rental properties in the city, whether apartments or villas – the City Council will not touch those that already have licenses. A year and a half after the first announcement, the City Council has still not begun the process to implement this measure, a process that will not be brief because it involves modifying the General Plan. Thus, it is impossible to know how the prohibition will be applied, if indeed it is implemented before the 2027 municipal elections. Sources at the City Council indicate that "work is underway on modifying the General Plan" and that it is likely that "it will go to the December plenary session of the City Council." "We are working with this plan." So far, the only effective measure Martínez has taken regarding tourist rentals in the past year and a half has been to hold two press conferences, in the second of which he failed to mention that it was a repeated announcement.

Martínez has also forgotten that in May 2024 he also pledged to modify Palma's General Plan to limit the number of nightclubs in established tourist areas, an initiative he did not reiterate in October. Instead, last month he assured that Cort would also prohibit the opening of new hostels andparty boatson the seafront promenade. In fact, the lack of effective measures against tourist saturation, beyond mere announcements, contrasts sharply with the €295,000 budget increase for the Palma 365 Tourism Foundation, a significant portion of which is earmarked for strengthening tourism promotion efforts. "We are entering an important debate, and Palma is concerned," said Martínez in 2024, a concern that, for the moment, has not translated into any concrete limitations. At that time, the mayor emphasized the importance of implementing limitations that have remained merely an announcement: "This pressure on Palma must be offset by limitations and restrictions," he said, also stressing that "citizens cannot bear the costs of visitors." The forcefulness of that discourse has since diminished.

Nor is it known how they have been received in the Pact for Sustainability The proposals that Cort said it would send: limiting or prohibiting certain cruises, charging cruise passengers to arrive in port and to access Palma, increasing manure and water rates for cruise tourism and holiday rentals, regulating and limiting organized tourist groups that conduct guided tours of the city, prohibiting theparty boats, Regulate the maximum number of rental cars and prohibit alcohol consumption in the street. Interestingly, Martínez said in October that the City Council would prohibit the party boats, without clarifying that in 2024 he assured that this measure could not be implemented by the Palma City Council and that, precisely for that reason, they were proposing it to the Pact.