Maria Gibert is manager of the Habtur holiday rentals association in the Balearics. She represents a sector very much to the fore in the debate about tourism sustainability and sits on four of the twelve working parties of the social and political pact for sustainability. She is therefore defending a sector that has been blamed in some quarters (hoteliers, for example) for the problem of tourist overcrowding.
"We feel like we are everyone's scapegoat, not just the hoteliers. Blaming us for overcrowding is demagogic. Of 18 million tourists (in the Balearics), only two million and a bit stay in holiday lets, three million or so are for residential tourism, and around 12 million are in hotels. And this last figure is surely higher, because children under 12 who sleep in extra beds do not count. By the way, if 15% of the obsolete hotels that allow drunken tourism were closed, there would be no problem of overcrowding."
Some years ago, holiday lets were viewed as a means of wider distribution of the wealth generated by tourism. But they are now viewed as the bad guys. Gibert acknowledges that illegal supply has done the sector no favours, but she believes that the debate regarding access to housing is poorly focused.
"It's a very complex issue. It cannot be reduced to, say, a house in Mallorca's interior which would not be on the residential rental market or, if it were, would be at a very unaffordable price. The problems of access to housing have to be attacked from many sides. For example, nothing has been done in promoting public housing." Then there are all the empty properties. "The mayor has himself said that there are 30,000 empty properties in Palma."
Gibert says that licensed apartment rentals constitute only around 12% of the legal supply of holiday lets.
"It is a minimal portion. And the permission of the community of owners is needed. President Prohens has announced that no more places will be granted to apartment buildings. We understand why she has said this, but we do not understand why an equally restrictive measure is not announced for the hotel sector."
But is this because problems of coexistence between residents and tourists are not as pronounced in hotels as they are in apartment lets?
Gibert argues: "Problems of coexistence do not exist from the moment that the community of owners grants permission. Apartment lets have to obtain this permission. In the same way as this permission can be given, so it can be taken it away. The licence is subject to continuous scrutiny by the community itself. We do not understand the hotels' animosity. They say that banning apartment rentals will bring an end to the housing problem. Really?"