Sawt Falasteen - Spanish resort to ban new holiday flats in 43 neighbourhoods

Under new rules approved by the Mediterranean city's planning commission, no new holiday apartments will be permitted in target neighbourhoods where more than 8.0 percent of all homes are let out on a short-term basis, said a city hall statement.

The 43 neighbourhoods include the old town, the La Merced quarter where painter Pablo Picasso was born as well as Playa del Palo, a traditional seafaring neighbourhood to the east of the tourist-filled city centre.

The aim is to encourage tourists flats to be set up "in neighbourhoods with less tourist pressure and are blocked in those where there is a greater number of tourist accommodations," the statement said.

The city of some 586,000 people has 11,559 registered holiday flats, around 60 percent of them listed on online platforms, it added.

Short-term holiday rentals account for 65 percent of total tourist accommodation in Malaga's centre, according to a study conducted by local authorities.

Other Spanish cities have already cracked down on rented holiday apartments, which many local residents blame for soaring rents and a shortage of affordable housing.

Barcelona has said it will ban all holiday apartments by 2028 while Madrid, Valencia and the Canary Islands have also tightened rules on short lets following complaints from locals priced out of the housing market.

Anti-tourism protests have multiplied in recent months across Spain, the world's second-most visited country after France, prompting authorities to try to reconcile the interests of locals and the lucrative sector.

M.Qasim--SF-PST