Spain delays introducing new tourist register until December

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Hotels and rental property landlords across Spain have demanded a full review of the controversial register

The law, established by Royal Decree 933/2021, requires private rental landlords and hotels to collect and communicate sensitive data about travellers to the Ministry of the Interior, including payment methods, financial transactions, check-in and check-out dates, contract details and personal contact information.

The Ministry, headed by Fernando Grande-Marlaska, said it’s taken on board the concerns of the holiday industry, whose representatives strongly argue that having to manually collect all of this information from guests would lead to extensive errors and possible breaches of personal data.

Furthermore, hoteliers point out that the regulations could be incompatible with EU laws and would place an unfair burden on staff.

The Ministry now plans to meet with representatives of the tourism sector on 4 October to iron out the details.

This decision to delay the registration process will come as a huge relief for companies in the industry, which have been expressing their opposition to the hastily-introduced rules for months now.

Their position is bolstered by the negative reaction from other parts of Europe; travel agencies and tour operators in the likes of Belgium and the Netherlands are alarmed by the lack of clarity on how to handle the new information required from their customers and how tourists’ privacy will be guaranteed.

In addition, four European tourism associations sent a letter to the Spanish Government expressing their “opposition, alarm and bewilderment” at the imminent entry into force of the Royal Decree, believing that it would increase costs for the sector and result in an increase in the price of holidays.

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