From December 2, 2024, the following data must be collected from tourists in Spain
The introduction of the new register has been postponed several times since 2021, partly due to technical difficulties and the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the tourism industry. The industry is resisting, but the regulation is nevertheless coming into force.
Data transmission
This extended data collection affects not only hotels, but also vacation rental companies, car rental companies and travel agencies. The industry speaks of a form with a total of 40 fields to be filled in.
The landlord is obligated to forward the following data to the competent authority:
- Full civil name
- Gender
- ID number and type of ID Document
- Nationality
- Date of birth
- Usual place of residence
- Landline number
- Mobile phone number
- E-Mail adress
- Number of travellers
- Degree of kinship for minors
Data collection
The implementation of this regulation could lead to multiple registrations of Mallorca tourists in the police system. A traveler who books a hotel stay with a rental car through a travel agency would be registered three times: by the agency, the hotel and the car rental company. The Spanish travel industry association Cehat describes this situation as chaotic. Consumer advocates criticize the extensive data collection and argue that the registration decree is not in line with the EU principle of data minimization.
Goodbye data protecion
Critics describe the security authorities' hunger for data as “disproportionate” and see it as a violation of European data protection directives. They argue that this practice turns hoteliers/holiday landlords into a kind of “tourist police”. The reason for this is the obligation of accommodation providers to verify the accuracy of personal details. Failure to comply with this regulation can result in severe fines of up to 30,000 euros.
