The Council of Mallorca currently has 650 open cases of illegal holiday lets, the fines for which are said to amount to a possible total of 16.9 million euros.
On Friday, the tourism councillor, José Marcial Rodríguez, and the director for tourism supply and quality, Clara del Moral, presented the latest information regarding inspections and sanctions since the launch of the plan against illegal supply in September last year.
Of the 650 cases, 239 have been opened since September. The rest relate to cases that were outstanding when there was a change of administration at the Council last June.
Rodríguez explained that the majority of the cases are in Palma and are mainly apartments. The renting of apartments as tourist accommodation in Palma is prohibited; there is no possibility of licensing apartments as holiday lets. The penalties can be as high as 400,000 euros.
He said that since the plan was put into effect, the average time it takes to set up an inspection has come down from 58 days to between five and eight days. His department inherited some 800 open cases from the previous administration.
During 2023, 3.48 million euros' worth of fines were collected, four times the amount in 2022. Between September and February this year, the collection more than doubled (2.35 million) compared to the same period in 2022 to 2023 (1.09 million).
The councillor estimated that there are up to 15,000 illegal tourist accommodation places in Mallorca at present. The Council is working with a geolocation company to get a more accurate figure. He also highlighted the cooperation of the likes of Airbnb and Booking.com.
"The plan we put in place in September is working and we are getting more effective in the fight against illegal supply," Rodríguez concluded.