We are against vacation homes on tourist and residential lands because they contaminate the hotel business, for the record. Airbnb has begun to pull its first strings on the issue of the limitations of vacation homes in destinations such as Maspalomas, south of Gran Canaria. The president of the Canary Islands as well as the Canary Coalition defends with the PP that there be a limitation on purchases of houses on the islands by foreigners, a thesis that Podemos defended in Madrid in 2024 and that generated political embarrassment between PP and Vox. The director of Public Policies of Airbnb in Spain has begun to send messages. Sara Rodríguez, head of the lobby office of the Catalan company Airbnb, maintains that limiting damages the destination and that each individual generates 5.100 euros of annual income with them alone.
The thesis of Fernando Clavijo, president of the Canary Islands, of blocking the purchase of houses by foreigners has already been questioned in Brussels. At the moment, there are differentiating language issues. The European Holiday Home Association (EHHA) does not call the problem in the Canary Islands holiday housing but rather "short-term accommodation". The interest group that wants to block the Canary Islands thesis in Madrid and Brussels is made up of Airbnb, Awaze (Novasol, cottages.com, Hoseasons, James Villa Holidays, Landal Green Parks), Expedia Group (Vrbo), Oyo Vacation Homes (Belvilla, DanCenter, Traum-FerienWohnungen), Lomarengas, the Spanish Federation of Tourist Housing and Apartment Associations (Fevitur),, Professional Association of Self-Caterers, Spanish Association of Digital Temporary Rental Platforms Adigital that brings together Rentalia, Vrbo, Spain-Holiday.com, Niumba, BookingStudio, Blueviu, HomeToGo, Minut, PriceLabs, Scale Rentals Show, Swikly, THIRDHOME and Your Rentals.
The EHHA comprises seven major European tourism organizations representing European homeowners, short-term accommodation and passenger transport platforms, as well as tour operators, demanding a review of the EU's proposed VAT platform rules. What does this lobby think about increasing pressure on destinations like the south of Gran Canaria? For them it is bad because "it will unfairly disadvantage services sold through platforms, it will lead to double taxation, it will harm private providers seeking to supplement their income." Therefore, they say that we must "rethink the current approach and carry out a thorough analysis of the impact of the deemed supplier regime."
The Canary Islands are going to use their status as an EU RUP zone to stop holiday homes, something that the EHHA does not even want to hear because if all the RUPs generate the same strategy in destinations such as Madeira, Martinique, Azores or Reunion, a gap may occur in their respective businesses. However, she is conciliatory, supporting "the collection and exchange of data on short-term rentals" but with nuances: "we hope that the EU data exchange framework for short-term rentals will lead to more justified, proportionate and non-discriminatory rules , rules that respect the principles of the Services Directive". EHHA hopes that Brussels will ensure "an adequate application of the EU Regulation." And the EU regulation makes very clear the escape hatch for the Canary Islands regarding vacation rentals in homes.
