The Minister of Tourism of the Council of Mallorca, José Marcial Rodríguez, held a brief meeting with the Managing Director of Airbnb in Spain and Portugal, Jaime Rodríguez de Santiago, in which they reaffirmed their commitment to collaborate in the fight against illegal accommodation.cThe Council of Mallorca, in a statement, said that its collaboration with the platform has led to the removal of more than 2,300 listings that did not have a registration number.
‘This agreement with Airbnb is already bearing fruit and shows that public-private collaboration is the way to protect our tourism model, ensure compliance with regulations and continue to strengthen the quality of life of all residents of Mallorca,’ said the island’s minister. Rodríguez attended the event held by the American company in Madrid on Wednesday, where he met with the Airbnb executive.
The platform announced its “Rural Commitment” initiative, with a budget of €43 million over three years, based on promoting new tourist destinations, supporting local businesses and revitalising towns. A study entitled “Short-term rentals as a revitaliser of rural Spain”, prepared by Analistas Financieros Internacionales (AFI), was also presented.
According to a statement issued by the company, hosts and short-term rentals through Airbnb are already present in 5,300 towns throughout Spain, and almost 70% of Spaniards already use it to travel to non-urban destinations in Spain. In Spain, despite being the world’s second largest tourist destination, Spanish rural destinations register up to seven times fewer nights booked than rural areas in France, three times fewer than in the United Kingdom, and half as many as in Italy, it said.
Airbnb said it was shifting its local strategy and plans to invest $50 million to promote Spanish villages and expand rental options there. The Spanish government has also launched a campaign to spotlight rural destinations, aiming to persuade the 94 million international tourists who flocked to beaches and big cities in 2024 to visit other parts of the country. For now, the trend is driven mainly by domestic travellers seeking cheaper inland holidays.
Nearly a third of tourists visiting Spain opt to stay in short-term rentals. The number of homes listed for holiday rentals in May dropped 6% from the previous summer to 1.43 million, after regulations were tightened to ease the housing crisis, data from the National Statistics Institute showed.