Sustainable Tourism Law

282 SUSTAINABLE TOURISM LAW This new reality causes many problems in terms of its legal framing in existing entities and the provision of content. In this case, it establishes its own and differentiated regulation 4 . The collaborative economy, despite its inconveniences, has drastically grown during the last years and become the perfect channel for action in the tourism sector, where Spain has revealed itself as the ideal country for the expansion of this economic model. The appearance of a collaborative economy and the rapid expansion of these technological platforms have created a certain degree of unrest and uncertainty that have shown the need to establish limits due to the strong impact of touristification and gentrification on tourism sustainability. The tourist invasion has reached such a high level that the character of the city is now being reshaped, both in the economic dimension and in the social, cultural and environmental aspects 5 . The entry into force of Law 4/2013 of 4 June, on Measures to Increase the Flexibility of and Promote the Housing Rental Market 6 has amended Law 29/1994 of 24 November, on Urban Leasehold (LAU in Spanish) that regulated, until now, the seasonal lease of tourist apartments in Spain. Article 5 of this new law excludes the following: “The temporary assignment for use of the entire furnished and equipped home to be immediately occupied, marketed and promoted through tourist offer channels for economic purposes, when this property is subject to a specific regime as a result of its sectorial regulations”. Thus, the private accommodation for tourism use is now regulated by the tourism rules of each autonomous community and, therefore, some of them have already started the regulation process. In this article, we analyse the problems arisen out of the use of housing for tourism and its effect on tourism sustainability (environmentally healthy, socially just and economically feasible). To this end, the different Spanish regional regulations are considered, without being exhaustive. 4 Despite the fact that certain sectors, like the National Commission on Markets and Competition, advocate for nonexistent regulations of these new activities. Vid. CONTRERAS DELGADO DE COS, J.M., SILOS RIBAS,M., SOBRINO RUIZ, M., “La economía colaborativa en los sectores regulados. Alojamientos turísticos”, in ALFONSO SÁNCHEZ, R. and VALERO TORRIJOS, J. (Dir.), Retos jurídicos de la economía colaborativa en el contexto digital , Aranzadi,Cizur Menor, Navarre, 2017. 5 This touristification goes together with the gentrification of the city and the increase of the housing price (both owned and rented) that makes it impossible for the working class and other members of the popular classes to live in the city, so they are sent to the outlying districts. 6 Spain. Law 4/2013, of 4 June, on Measures to Increase the Flexibility of and Promote the Housing Rental Market. Boletín Oficial del Estado ( Spanish State Official Gazette ), of 5 June of 2013, No. 134, pp. 42244 to 42256 (looked up on 16 March 2017). Available at: https://www.boe.es/diario_boe/txt.php?id=BOE-A-2013-5941.