Seven new rules for UK tourists in Spain - every restriction Brits must follow in 2025

Housing shortages and rising prices have provoked people to protest against tourists in several cities such as Barcelona and Seville, as foreign buyers and mass tourism are seen as contributing factors to the crisis.
-Credit:Reach Publishing Services Limited


SEVEN new laws UK tourists face in Spain have been warned ahead of the summer getaway. Housing shortages and rising prices have provoked people to protest against tourists in several cities such as Barcelona and Seville, as foreign buyers and mass tourism are seen as contributing factors to the crisis.

Spain has proposed 12 steps to tackle the country’s strained housing market, which saw some of Europe’s highest price increases last year at 8.3 percent. UK tourists heading to the country have been warned over the European Union holiday hotspot's clampdown.

Last year saw record numbers of foreign visitors, with some 94 million people arriving in the country. As such, Spain is taking action - including the introduction of controversial Big Brother laws, which sparked fury when they were introduced last year.

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The Spanish government has introduced new regulations requiring hotels to collect extensive personal data from tourists, including family details, bank card information, and addresses, which must then be provided to security services. While Spanish hotels already request guests' ID card or passport information, these new rules are expected to be the most stringent in the EU, with up to 42 pieces of personal data being collected.

Big Brother rules

Cehat has expressed regret that the registration system is coming into force before the public consultation process for the ministerial order is completed, creating more confusion among hoteliers and travellers. They argued that its implementation entails an "unreasonable" bureaucratic burden, given that 95% of the sector consists of SMEs.

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"This Royal Decree infringes upon fundamental privacy rights and is contrary to several EU directives, which is why Cehat asserts that compliance is impossible due to the risk it poses to establishments being subject to lawsuits from travellers," say the hoteliers, who are prepared to take legal action.

Border

The biggest change is that the EU’s Entry and Exit System (EES) will finally be launched in 2025, most likely in the year's first half. The Entry/Exit System (EES) will be an automated IT system for registering travellers from third-countries, both short-stay visa holders and visa exempt travellers, each time they cross an EU external border. The system will register the person's name, type of the travel document, biometric data (fingerprints and captured facial images) and the date and place of entry and exit, in full respect of fundamental rights and data protection.

It will also record refusals of entry. EES will replace the current system of manual stamping of passports, which is time consuming, does not provide reliable data on border crossings and does not allow a systematic detection of over-stayers (travellers who have exceeded the maximum duration of their authorised stay).

EES will contribute to prevent irregular migration and help protect the security of European citizens. The new system will also help bona fide third-country nationals to travel more easily while also identifying more efficiently over-stayers as well as cases of document and identity fraud. In addition to this, the system will allow a wider use of automated border control checks and self-service systems, which are quicker and more comfortable for the traveller.

Visas

Spain will end its “golden visa” programme this spring in a bid to address the country’s growing housing crisis. So-called “golden visas” grant residency rights to foreign citizens through investments in real estate. Launched in 2013, the golden visa programme grants residency rights to non-EU citizens who make large investments in Spanish real estate.

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Currently, foreigners who invest at least €500,000 (£420,405) in a property without taking out a mortgage are awarded a renewable residence permit, allowing them to live and work in the country for three years.

A golden visa can be renewed every five years granted “the right conditions are met”. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez confirmed in a January decree that the scheme would close for new applicants on 3 April 2025.

In April 2024, Mr Sanchez said: "Today, 94 out of every 100 such visas are linked to real estate investment... in major cities that are facing a highly stressed market and where it's almost impossible to find decent housing for those who already live, work and pay their taxes there."

Tourist taxes

Hotel tourism taxes will increase in Asturias, Galicia, Tenerife, Alicante and Seville in 2025.Mogán town in Gran Canaria has brought in a new fee that will apply to visitors staying overnight. The new payment, effective from this month, will be charged per person per night.

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The new fee was announced last month and officials said the profits will be reinvested into the local tourist industry. Tpeaking in December 2024, the mayor of Mogán Onalia Bueno said: "The tourists who stay in the municipality contribute to paying what proportionally corresponds to them for the services and activities they enjoy during their stay.

"Under no circumstances do we want the residents to assume all the tax pressure through an increase in rates."

Rentals

Malaga will prohibit new rental properties in 43 neighbourhoods where those apartments exceed 8% of the residential stock. The policy was enacted earlier this month and will be tested for three years. Similarly, Barcelona plans to close all 10,000 apartments licensed as short-term rentals in the coming years to safeguard the housing supply for full-time residents.

Property buying

Last week Spain’s Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez announced several measures, including a 100 percent tax on the value of homes bought by foreigners, to tackle the country’s housing crisis.

Sanchez aims to deter non-European Union residents from buying houses in the country. “Spain’s housing should be for Spanish people to live in, as well as for migrants who come here to work and build a life and contribute to the development and prosperity of our country,” Sanchez said, referring to people who use housing as an investment vehicle.

Hire cars

Holidaymakers will need to fill out more paperwork when staying in hotels and hiring cars. This results from a new law that requires hotel owners and car rental companies to send personal information to the government for national security reasons.