Draft new touristic law out to consultation

[Janet]

The Canarian Government has sent the draft new tourism law, the Ley de Renovación y Modernización Turística de Canarias, to the Consultative Committee for consultation. I haven't seen the full draft yet myself, but the Government has asked for a speedy response: as we know, the new law must be on the statute books in December at the latest because the touristic moratorium was extended in May only until the end of the year.

What the Government has formally announced at this point, though, is that the law has as a primary objective the renovation and modernization of touristic urbanizations, areas and products; the diversification of its touristic offer; and authorizations in 2013 and 2014 for 5* hotels in Tenerife, Gran Canaria, Fuerteventura and Lanzarote.  Once this period is over, new licences will be considered for establishments under 5* as long as they provide luxury places tied to renovation projects or replace obsolete beds. Construction team employment must significantly favour those who are registered as unemployed.

Existing restrictions outside of these criteria are to be maintained indefinitely. Recognizing the criticism of this stance in some quarters, the Government says that whether people agree with this or not, this is the Government's model and decision, and that the new law does away with the need to keep renewing the existing touristic moratorium which can now be considered to be enshrined in law. The fundamental objects of the legislation are:

- to manage and organize the growth of the touristic offer, tying this to quality improvement both in terms of renovation and new build
- to increase quality levels and the category of touristic establishments
- to avoid, and if appropriate, redirect the residentialisation of touristic areas
- to provide the Government with effective juridical mechanisms to incentivise and, as appropriate, ensure compliance with conservation, renovation and effective use requirements
- to restore the image of touristic areas

The new law envisages the possibility of touristic licences being awarded in Tenerife, Gran Canaria, Fuerteventura and Lanzarote only for:

- the renovation of existing touristic establishments
- the implementation of touristic places based on rights deriving from renovation projects
- hotels on approved urban non-touristic land (suelo urbano consolidado) and rural hotels
- hotels of a minimum 5* category
- non-hotel accommodation where planning rules expressly permit, or do not prohibit, it, with a minimum 5* category in respect of apartments
- specialist accommodation establishments

The new plans will complement, and in some cases replace, existing urban designations in order to make urban renovation more viable. They will also include new formats in touristic organization such as the condominium – based on the American model – and touristic villas, the latter being at least 500 metres from the coast, of a density of between 10 and 40 units per hectare depending on overall plot size, and which do not exceed 20% of the surface area concerned. In addition, a procedure is envisaged to regularize and authorize accommodation establishments which have existing licences from before Ley 19/2003, and which comply with all requirements necessary to be considered touristic establishments.

With regard to incentives for renovation, the law includes measures for financial incentives and additional places – up to 50% for hotels and 25% for apartments, except where:

- the category will be lower than 3*
- the conversion is from a hotel to a non-hotel establishment
- when the conversion is from a non-hotel to a hotel establishment that does not convert the regimen of horizontal property to one of ordinary ownership or co-ownership JA

[Janet]

The moratorium will be, as I posted below last September, enshrined in law and "indefinite" once the new law comes into force. The legislation passed its first parliamentary process yesterday, with the total rejection of all opposition amendments. The opposition, and amendments, had argued that the new legislation was interventionist, and ignored completely island cabildos and local Ayuntamientos. All such arguments were dismissed.

Environment and Regional Policy Minister Domingo Berriel said that this was going to be a permanent law to regulate the growth of the tourism sector, and that any problems in its imposition would, as was the case with any law, be dealt with in the normal  course of events and in the normal manner. "Call this interventionist if you like", said Sr Berriel, "but this strategic activity must be regulated".

Sr Berriel confirmed that the new law will act to correct residentialism, something that had been very negative for tourist areas. The word  he uses is "reconducir". I've translated "act to correct", but could equally have used "redirect". Once again it is far from clear what the government has in mind in this respect, which is of such great interest to those who own property of any type in tourist areas.

I've posted previously on other measures in the bill, so won't repeat them here, but it's worth mentioning that Sr Berriel insisted that no more land would be classified for tourist use, "because there is enough available". The bill now continues its way through Parliament, with the first hurdle cleared. JA

[Janet]

The new law is still mired in Parliament. Today we've learned that the Canarian Socialist and nationalist groups will be presenting separate amendments to the Bill.  The main reason for posting something of such little immediate import is to show the two main issues that are causing problems right now ... and neither is concerned with the matters that would concern most readers here, I imagine. The first is the nature of the role of Cabildos and Ayuntamientos in modernisation plans, and the other is that of the categories permitted in newly created tourist establishments. There is also dispute over whether to include 4* establishments in the moratorium. There is still no sign of when this will be translated into law. JA