Sustainable Tourism Law

SUSTAINABILITY AND SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY IN THE REGULATION 291 SUST INABILITY AND SOCIAL RESPONSABILITY IN HOSTING For these reasons, many problems related to competition laws have appeared in the hotel and catering business, a sector with lots of administrative regulations that must be followed by all the owners of hotel and non-hotel establishments. On the other hand, private rental has made it possible for many taxpayers to not include the incomes resulting from the tourist lease in their tax return, which is obviously not a correct behaviour 49 . In the amendment to Law 29/1994, of 24 November, on Urban Leasehold, by Law 4/2013, of 4 June, on Measures to Increase the Flexibility of and Promote the Housing Rental Market, the temporary assignment for use of the entire furnished and equipped home to be immediately occupied is excluded from its scope of application. This amendment is justified (in the explanatory statements) by arguing that ‘in recent years there has been a significant increase in the use of private accommodation for tourism that could be hiding situations of unqualified practice and unfair competition that damage tourism destinations.’ The cause of this amendment is included in the National and Integral Tourism Plan 2012- -2015 ( Plan Nacional Integral de Turismo 2012- 2015 ), where it is mentioned that ‘there has been a significant increase in the use of private tourism so the law on urban leasehold was amended for controlling situations of unqualified practice and unfair competition that can affect the tourism destinations.’ The fact that the autonomous communities have (and continuously update) a census of housing for tourism use through the Register of Tourism Businesses is considered a key strategy to fight against clandestine operation, unfair competition, fraud in tourist activity and to guarantee citizen safety. As all tourism businesses, when providing an accommodation service in dwellings for tourism use, the person or entity that operates the service must submit the corresponding declaration of responsibility to the competent regional authority for tourism, who can then enable the start of the activity from the moment the documents are submitted. After this procedure, the dwellings for tourism use will be ex officio registered in the tourism register of the corresponding autonomous community 50 . Andalusia establishes that the entries (additions and deletions) must be reported to the local councils where the dwellings are located and to the regional housing authority 51 . In the case of Catalonia, the procedure is different. The dwellings for tourism use are registered in the tourism register 49 The Spanish Tax Agency warns that the income obtained from any private rental must be declared. 50 Like Decrees: Art. 31 Asturias; Art. 15 Castile and Leon; Art. 17 Madrid, Art.12 Canary Islands; Art. 43 Galicia. 51 Art.9 Decree Andalusia.