Sustainable Tourism Law

200 SUSTAINABLE TOURISM LAW e) Formalisation of the contract and price (art. 7 and 8): Unlike most regional regulations, the Andalusian Decree regulates in depth the contract agreed between the property owner or operator and the user/ tourist. Specifically, it regulates the price to pay, the booking, the deposit and the penalty for early cancellation of the booking – areas that are not, by contrast, covered in almost any other regional regulations despite their importance. 5. Balearic Islands The regulations in the Balearic Islands are the most recent and surely the most developed in terms of the ability and requirements to establish holiday properties in Spanish Autonomous Regions. Specifically, the Balearic Parliament recently approved Act 6/2017 of 31 st July modifying the Balearic Tourism Act of 2012 regarding tourist stays in properties. In turn, a couple of articles in Act 6/2017 were modified by Decree-Law 3/2017 of 4 th August. Below are the main features of the new regulations: a) Concept: Companies marketing “tourist stays in homes” are deemed as people “who market for tourists a whole residential property for short stays, ready for immediate use and for profit, a marketing that may alternate with the inherent use of the property that characterises it”. b) Requirements for the marketing of the properties: The Decree sets out many requirements for marketing of ‘tourist stays in homes’ to be possible. The main ones are listed below: 1. They must be residential properties located in urban areas, declared apt for this purpose. The zoning of areas where the properties may be located must be undertaken by the respective town/city council, based on the general criteria set by the Island Council in the Intervention Plan for Tourist Areas (PIAT) or the Island Territorial Plan (PTI). 2. The PIAT and, where applicable, the PTI may also determine the maximumlimitper islandfor touristplaces/beds intourist accommodations and the maximum limit of places in residential properties likely to be marketed to tourists, based on current island resources, infrastructure, population density and other relevant parameters for this area.