Granted, it may appear to be a contradiction; however, there is an explanation. The expansion of visitor apartments in the city has not been entirely halted by the moratorium on new tourist licences, which was implemented by the Alicante City Council in two phases. The moratorium was initially implemented for domestic buildings and subsequently extended to tourist buildings. This is supported by the most recent data from the Alicante City Tourism Chair, a joint initiative of the City Council and the University of Alicante.
Despite the fact that no new licenses have been granted for residential buildings for nearly a year and a half, tourist accommodation in Alicante continues to expand, as indicated by the two most recent reports. This policy was expanded to include apartment blocks, guesthouses, and tourist hostels last summer. A total of 16,589 legal beds were present in the city at that time, in July 2025, with 4,155 tourist accommodations.
The most recent update to these figures, which was published in March of last year, increases the total to 16,768 beds in 4,225 properties. Specifically, in the past seven months, Alicante has experienced a rise of 23 individual visitor accommodations, which equates to nearly 100 additional beds (94, to be precise). The number of new tourist flat blocks has increased by four, surpassing the symbolic threshold of 100 and reaching 102. Subsequently, every two months, a new tourist condominium complex has launched in Alicante. The number of beds has increased by 85, and the number of linked accommodations has increased by 47. In general, Alicante has a total of 16,768 beds that are distributed across 4,225 tourist properties, all of which are within the legal limits.
This rise in tourist accommodations is the result of permits that were issued prior to the Alicante City Council’s approval of the two-year moratorium, which is set to expire in early 2027, despite the municipal moratorium on new licenses until the present regulations are reviewed. At present, the Urban Planning Department is in the process of revising the municipal plan to regulate the construction of tourist apartments. This decision was made in response to the current tension in the city and its impact on coexistence, particularly in saturated areas such as the Traditional Center, the Old Town, San Antón, San Blas, the area surrounding the Central Market, and Carolinas.
This regulation has been in effect since 1987 and is implemented through amendment No. 52 of the General Urban Development Plan (PGOU). The Local Governing Board initiated the process of a new regulation for tourist accommodations in the city in October 2025. This regulation limits the number of tourist beds per inhabitant to a maximum of 0.187 and prohibits the establishment of new tourist beds in areas that are already urbanistically saturated, meaning that they exceed the established maximum index. However, there are specific exceptions for 3, 4, and 5-star hotels.
Four additional buildings of tourist apartments have been constructed in Alicante since the prohibition of new licenses, bringing the total number of units to more than one hundred.
Additionally, it mandates that tourist accommodations situated in residential buildings be granted licenses only upon establishing distinct access. The intention is to encourage local businesses, which are “a critical component of urban vitality and social cohesion,” by prohibiting tourist uses on the ground floors of “main thoroughfares, commercial axes, and civic axes.”
The City Council unanimously authorised the specific modification of the General Urban Development Plan (PGOU) in the most recent plenary session in December, thereby initiating the mandatory public consultation period. The ultimate approval of this modification is still pending. In the interim, the initial measure—the prohibition of new licenses for residences in residential blocks—was granted judicial support two months ago. The appeal submitted by the Association of Tourist Apartments of the Valencian Community (Aptur) against the municipal agreement was dismissed by the Administrative Court of the Court of First Instance of Alicante. The granting of licences for new tourist apartments in residential complexes in the city was suspended as a result of this agreement, which received the support of the PSOE and Vox parties, the abstention of [unspecified party], and the vote against of EU-Podemos. This was the initial action taken by the Barcala administration to resolve a clear social issue that had been previously disregarded.
Last summer, this measure was extended six months later, in conjunction with the numerous voices raised in the city against tourist saturation. This was prompted by the forced relocation of the 80 Mundos bookshop from its historic location in a building on General Marvá Street, where more tourist accommodations were planned. In the first half of 2025, the City Council disclosed that a total of 12 tourist apartment structures had been registered in Alicante, which was consistent with the 2024 average of 25. This figure was down from 16 in 2023 in comparison. Despite the moratorium on new licences for apartments in tourist blocks, which was approved in the middle of last year, that number continues to increase, with four additional licences issued in the seven months between the end of July 2025 and the beginning of March 2026.
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