Por Redaccion 
Marbella will have a municipal registry of tourist accommodations and a new regulation that will limit the change of use for this activity in commercial premises. The mayor, Ángeles Muñoz, presented today the results of the latest study on this segment in the city, conducted by researchers from the University of Malaga, which determines that «only 32% of the properties registered in the municipality are actually marketed.» The mayor pointed out that, based on this document, «it is necessary to have a census that reflects the real offer, given that the units that are actually rented out are much fewer than those registered at the regional level.» In this sense, she recalled that «this vacation phenomenon, which has become globalized, has existed at the local level since the 1960s,» at which point she announced that the City Council «will closely monitor the regulation being developed by the Junta de Andalucía.» «We will analyze in detail all the indicators so that these accommodations always represent an added value for the municipality,» she said.
Muñoz, accompanied by the director of the Research Institute of Intelligence and Tourism Innovation of the UMA, Enrique Navarro; the deputy director of the institution and former dean of the Faculty of Tourism of the UMA, Antonio Guevara; and the researcher of the entity, Manuel Moreno, detailed that the report determines that almost 79.2% of the offered properties are owned by individuals, while 98.7% of the offer consists of complete properties (86.2% with two or more bedrooms and, of these, 15% are chalets or villas). She also indicated that the sector generated a total of 100 million euros in 2024 and that the average spending of people staying in this type of accommodation is 173 euros, more than double the provincial average.
«These are data that demonstrate the economic impact of this segment on the city and the high purchasing power of the guests,» pointed out the mayor, emphasizing that the highest demand is concentrated in coastal areas, around golf courses, and the urban center, as well as the high level of user satisfaction, which translates into an average rating of 4.8 out of 5. The mayor, who also argued that Marbella has «higher occupancy in hotels than in this type of accommodation,» explained that the new urban planning of the city, currently in progress, will include this sector and the differentiation between residential and tourist accommodations. In this regard, she further elaborated that the new ordinance to limit the use of commercial premises for this activity is already being developed «with the aim of preserving the essence of the neighborhoods.»
On their part, the researchers detailed the methodology and the most important indicators of the study, which carries out a quantitative and qualitative analysis, and highlighted the disparity that exists between the official statistics on tourist accommodations in Marbella. In the case of the Tourist Registry of Andalusia, the offer in August 2024 was estimated at 13,857 establishments and 110,080 places, while the units marketed, according to the INE and the ‘big data’ of the Costa del Sol, were 7,516 properties and 42,351 places, respectively. «It can be deduced that the constant announcements of possible regulation of licenses have encouraged individuals and companies to register their properties without actually putting them on the market,» the report states.
«The highest concentration is in the historic center, which is to be expected to have a higher density of this type of accommodation because the surface area per unit is smaller,» stated Navarro, noting that it has increased in the coastal strip, especially in Nueva Andalucía, and that «there is a greater offer in the vicinity of golf courses, indicating a demand for a type of housing such as chalets or very large units with more square meters.» The document, which follows up on a sector report conducted in 2018, also reflects «a fairly high profitability per unit, at 241.9 euros in high season» and determines that out of the 1.2 million overnight stays in tourist accommodations recorded in 2023, 56% were national visitors and the rest were mainly British and German.
Lastly, the study conducts a legal analysis of this segment and proposes a series of regulations for the activity. Among other things, it suggests the possibility of zoning areas with maximum percentages or limits of this type of accommodation by buildings or floors, according to the sector, as well as deeming it «interesting to prevent this activity from being established on ground floors, as they cause a transformation of the social and commercial fabric,» Moreno emphasized, in line with the ordinance already being developed by the City Council. Similarly, it advocates for promoting participatory processes on new regulations and enhancing transparency with a municipal census of this type of accommodation, a measure that will be reflected in the future municipal registry announced by the mayor.