L'Escala, in Girona, is heavily dependent on tourist accommodation, with these properties making up 70.5% of all lodging places in the municipality, according to a new study commissioned by the town council and funded through European Next Generation funds.
The report says tourist accommodation generates more than €16 million a year in direct rental income. It also says this type of housing is a key part of the local tourism system, and that other accommodation types would not be able to meet demand without it.
Mayor Josep Bofill said the information is important to help balance the economic role of tourist accommodation with the need to guarantee access to housing for local residents. L'Escala is currently the sixth municipality in Catalonia with the most registered tourist accommodation properties, with 3,241 properties and 17,501 places.
The study also found that nearly half of the licences granted are not in use. That finding comes as Catalonia applies Decree Law 3/2023, which sets a new framework for tourist accommodation. Bofill said that, if the decree were applied as written, L'Escala would need to reduce its tourist properties from about 3,200 to around 1,100.
The council says it will contact other affected municipalities and ask the Generalitat to review the rules, taking account of local territorial needs. It also plans to create a working commission to define the sector's future, alongside measures such as cleaning up the register of inactive properties, zoning the municipality, setting up a discussion table with key operators, and creating incentives to convert tourist properties into long-term residential rentals.
L'Escala has not issued new licences for tourist accommodation for three years. Municipalities have a moratorium until 2028 to implement the new regulations. The study forms part of the Tourist Roadmap project, within the Tourism Sustainability Plans in Destinations programme, funded by the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan with European Next Generation EU funds. More Catalonia news
