MADRID, Aug. 11 (Xinhua) -- Increasing numbers of visitors to Spain are choosing to stay in apartments rather than traditional hotels, according to data published by the Spanish National Institute of Statistics (INE) on Friday.
INE's study shows the 35.3 million visitors who came to Spain between January and June spent 25 percent more than in the same period in 2016 on accommodation other than traditional hotels, with 75 percent of the growth due to bookings on online platforms, such as Airbnb or HomeAway.
The data is published in the middle of a debate in Spain about just how many tourists the country can welcome, in the wake of attacks on the tourism sector in cities such as Barcelona, Palma de Mallorca and San Sebastian.
These cities and others have seen anti-tourism slogans painted on buildings.
2015 saw Spain welcome 68 million visitors and the number is set to rise to around 84 million in 2017 with INE highlighting that 35.3 million foreign tourists came to the country in the first six months of this year (before the peak season on July and August).
That same period saw Airbnb income rise by 33 percent to around 4 million euros, well above the 14.8 percent growth in tourist spending for the first half of the year. Exceltur; the organization which represents the interest of Spanish hoteliers, calculates the demand for tourist apartments on the whole has risen by 37 percent in 2017, compared with a 7 percent rise in demand for hotel rooms.
It is the use of tourist apartments, which many blame for causing house prices to rise in Barcelona, as well as other social problems, such as increased noise, drunkenness and rubbish in traditional residential neighborhoods, which has provoked so much controversy, with the Barcelona local authority attempting to crackdown on unlicensed properties.
Meanwhile, the regional government in the Balearic Islands this week voted to put a cap on the number of tourist beds on offer on the islands of Mallorca and Ibiza, promising heavy fines for those illegally renting apartments.
