The business community of southern Gran Canaria has formed a united front through the archipelago's main employers' associations —led by the Federation of Hospitality and Tourism Businesses of Las Palmas (FEHT Las Palmas), along with Ashotel, Asofuer and Asolan— to stop any legislative reform that would open the door to the widespread conversion of tourist apartment complexes into residential housing.
The debate, which directly impacts the key locations of Maspalomas and Playa del Inglés, warns that the loss of accommodation places in the main tourist corridors of the municipality of San Bartolomé de Tirajana would severely compromise the viability of the main economic engine of the region.
To assess the risks of residential transformation, business associations refer to academic data compiled by the Institute of Tourism and Sustainable Economic Development (Tides) at the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, presented at the Maspalomas Summer University conference. The technical reports quantify that replacing tourist use with residential use across the archipelago entails a decrease in revenue of €3.586 billion annually, in addition to a tax revenue shortfall of €943 million and the potential loss of approximately 88.000 jobs linked to the sector's value chain.
In a municipality like San Bartolomé de Tirajana, whose economy depends on preserving its established accommodation sector, business owners argue that the fragmentation of tourist land due to the arrival of permanent residents weakens its ability to compete with emerging international destinations. Their central argument rests on the impossibility of managing common areas uniformly, undertaking comprehensive modernization projects, or maintaining quality standards in complexes where conflicting residential and tourist interests coexist.
The hotel and non-hotel accommodation sector clearly distinguishes between protecting acquired rights and opening a path to the irreversible loss of lodging spaces. Industry associations support the roadmap of the Canary Islands Government's Ministry of Tourism and Employment, aimed at regulating the sector and resolving the sanctioning proceedings against owners with long-standing irregularities, noting that the current regulatory framework already includes safeguards for properties with accredited residential use prior to January 1, 2017.
The directive from the business community of southern Gran Canaria establishes a non-negotiable red line: to protect the consolidated situations of the past without mortgaging the commercial future of Maspalomas through residential liberalization that reduces the supply of beds and weakens the competitiveness of the island's tourism model.
