‘Not a threat’ to sector

THE Valencian Tourist Apart‐ment Association insists that they are not a threat for the regional tourism sector.

Association president Miguel Ángel Sotillos has hit out at claims made by Benidorm hotel union Hos‐ bec that holiday lets are “one of the main threats to the tourism trade” by pointing out that hotels are no longer the majority option for visitor accommodation.

In fact, the apartment rental sector supports at least half the Valencian tourism and leisure trades, according to Sr Sotillos.

The association president claims that Hosbec’s position is due merely to self‐interest and the intention to monop‐olise the tourism accommo‐dation trade ‐ which will not happen as holiday lets have ‘democratised’ the sector and account for the majority of demand, in the opinion of Sr Sotillos.

Instead, the association president has called on Hos‐bec to support the regulation of the tourism rental trade to help weed out unlicensed lets and improve the legal ac‐commodation sector in gen‐eral.

There are currently more than 85,000 licensed holiday apartments and flats to let in the Valencia Region offering more than 250,000 vacan‐cies, which account for 55 per cent of the tourist accommo‐dation throughout the three provinces and generate an estimated €1.7 billion a year.