The booking rate for vacation rentals along Spain’s coast for August 2026 reached 85.5%, which is 1 percentage point higher than the figure for the same period last year, according to a study by the Rentalia platform published on July 29. The study is based on an analysis of availability calendars for apartments and vacation homes located no more than 15 km from Spanish beaches. In August 2025, the share of booked properties stood at 84.5%.
The highest occupancy rate was recorded in Mallorca, where 99% of vacation rentals were booked for the last month of summer. Next are the Asturian coast at 95.6%, Menorca at 94.6%, Lanzarote at 93.5%, and the province of Alicante at 92.2%.
In Murcia, the booking rate reached 89.1%; in Cantabria, 88.3%; in Cádiz, 87.5%; on the Costa del Sol in the province of Málaga, 86.8%; and in Almería, 86.5%. In Fuerteventura, the figure matches the national average at 85.5%, and on the Costa Brava, it stands at 85%.
The greatest number of available last-minute booking options remains on the coast of the province of Huelva, where 44.7% of accommodations are occupied. Relatively low occupancy rates were also recorded in Tenerife (72.4%), the province of Valencia (72.6%), the Costa Dorada in Tarragona (76.7%), and the Barcelona coast (77.9%).
Almudena Ucha, director of Rentalia, attributes the rise in demand for northern regions of Spain to the intense summer heat. Occupancy rates for vacation rentals in Asturias rose by 4.7 percentage points over the year, and in Cantabria by 4 points, as tourists are increasingly opting for cooler destinations. Among properties with air conditioning, 86.7% were booked for August, and among those with a pool, 85% were booked. The booking rate for rural homes in Spain’s inland regions was even higher, reaching 87.6%.
Data source: a study by Rentalia, a vacation rental platform on Idealista
The European Commission is developing a new legislative framework that will allow national, regional, and municipal authorities to restrict short-term housing rentals in areas facing particularly sharp price increases and a shortage of apartments for permanent residents.
The initiative will be part of the future European Affordable Housing Act, which the European Commission plans to present in 2026. The document is intended to help authorities identify areas under housing pressure based on publicly available statistical data and take measures commensurate with the scale of the problem.
This does not mean a blanket ban on Airbnb, Booking.com, or other services across the entire European Union. The European Commission intends to create a legal framework within which cities and regions can independently regulate short-term rentals without violating the rules of the single European market.
In particular, municipalities should be given greater legal certainty when imposing restrictions in areas where tourist rentals reduce the housing supply for local residents. Possible measures will be determined taking into account the local situation, the interests of the tourism sector, and the principle of proportionality.
During the consultations, representatives of cities and regions called on the European Commission to develop a list of tools compatible with EU legislation. They also emphasized the need to take into account the differences between major tourist centers, small towns, and rural areas.
The drafting of the Affordable Housing Act is proceeding in parallel with the implementation of previously approved EU rules on the collection of information regarding short-term rentals. EU Regulation No. 2024/1028 will take effect on May 20, 2026. It provides for the creation of digital registration systems for landlords and the exchange of data between platforms and government agencies.
In countries that implement such registration, property owners must obtain a unique property number and include it in their listings. Online platforms are required to display and verify these numbers, conduct random checks, and remove listings at the request of authorities if they do not comply with established rules.
Platforms must also submit monthly data on the number of guests and booked nights via a single national digital gateway. This will allow municipalities to assess the actual scale of short-term rentals and make data-driven decisions.
However, the current regulation primarily governs registration and the exchange of information. It does not, in and of itself, establish EU-wide limits on the number of apartments available for rent or the permitted number of nights.
According to the European Commission, short-term rentals already account for about a quarter of all tourist accommodation supply in the EU.
In 2025, 951.6 million guest nights were booked through Airbnb, Booking.com, Expedia, and other major online platforms. Compared to 2024, this figure increased by 11.4%.
The European Commission acknowledges that this market generates income for property owners, expands options for tourists, and supports local businesses. At the same time, the high concentration of short-term rentals in historic centers and popular resorts may reduce the supply of apartments for permanent residence and contribute to rising prices.
According to the European Affordable Housing Plan, the number of short-term rental bookings through the largest platforms increased by more than 90% between 2018 and 2024. Professional operators account for more than 45% of listings, even though they represent a minority of property owners.
Once the new legislation is adopted, the rules will depend not only on the country but also on the situation in a specific city or district. In tourist destinations with a housing shortage, local authorities will potentially be able to impose stricter requirements regarding registration, licensing, and rental duration. In regions where there is a shortage of tourist accommodations and short-term rentals support the local economy, restrictions may be significantly fewer.
The growth potential for the market capitalization of Transcarpathia’s tourism clusters over the next three years could reach 40–50%, and 60% for the Skole District in Lviv Oblast, according to the study “Promised vs. Real” by Ribas Invest and Ribas Hotels Group.
As explained to the “Interfax-Ukraine” news agency, this level of market capitalization is driven by growing tourism demand in regions where competition among professional developers remains minimal.
“The market has learned to look not where everything has already been built, but where infrastructure is just taking shape. The difference in land prices between overheated and new locations is now as much as tenfold—this is the ‘window’ for entry before capital floods in,” explained Artur Lupashko, founder of Ribas Hotels Group.
As part of a comprehensive audit of Ukraine’s hotel and recreational development sector, Ribas Invest has identified clusters of locations where entry costs have not yet peaked, despite rapidly growing demand. These include, in particular, the Sinyak–Pylypets–Podobovets corridor in Zakarpattia, the Skole–Tukhlya corridor in Lviv Oblast, and the Kaniv–Cherkasy corridor along the Dnipro River.
According to the study, the average price per 100 square meters of land in the village of Polyanytsia (Bukovel) is $25,000–45,000, in Pylypets—$3,500–6,000, and in the Skole District—$1,500–3,000. The difference in land prices between these locations reaches 1,000%, while the cost of renting a ready-to-use room differs by only 20–25%.
Researchers also note that by 2026, Zakarpattia will have upgraded rail and road logistics, which will make the region comparable to Ivano-Frankivsk in terms of accessibility—at one-third the cost of assets.
Other promising destinations include the Shatsk–Svitiaz lake region in Volyn, the suburbs of Kyiv, and the Odesa coast, where demand is driven by the desire for safe suburban getaways and energy-independent real estate.
Ribas Hotels Group—founded in 2014 in Odesa—is an international full-cycle hotel management company and a hotel business ecosystem. It integrates the entire process—from site selection, design, and construction to management, franchising, and investment.
Ribas Hotels Group is the only hotel group that independently handles all stages of creating and developing hotel projects.
The company’s portfolio includes 56 projects currently under construction, in the launch phase, or under management, including locations in Ukraine, Poland, Turkey, and Bali. The company develops 3-, 4-, and 5-star city and resort hotels under the brands Ribas Hotels, Ribas Rooms, WOL home + hotel, and Mandra Moments.
The operator’s total room inventory exceeds 1,000 rooms.
HOTEL, INVESTMENT, RIBAS, Skole District, TOURISM, ZAKARPATTIA
Egypt has begun integrating the resorts along the northern Mediterranean coast into a single year-round tourist and investment destination. The new model will be based on the Yalla Sahel initiative, which aims to connect existing and developing resort areas through a shared digital platform, an events calendar, and tourism services.
The project was unveiled in July 2026 in Sidi Abdel Rahman. It was spearheaded by Egyptian entrepreneur Naguib Sawiris. Major developers, tourism companies, telecommunications operators, and Egyptian government agencies have joined the platform.
Yalla Sahel is not a standalone construction project. Rather, it involves creating a unified brand for Egypt’s northern coast, which is expected to gradually transition from a short summer season to year-round operations.
Traditionally, the region known in Egypt as the Sahel sees its highest volume of visitors in July and August. Many residential complexes, restaurants, and retail and entertainment venues operate at limited capacity or are closed entirely for most of the year.
The initiative’s organizers hope to change this model by developing event-based tourism, digital services, transportation, and infrastructure for year-round living.
On the Yalla Sahel platform, users will be able to book apartments, villas, and chalets; purchase tickets to beaches, concerts, and other events; and select tourism services.
The service covers New El Alamein, Ras el-Hekma, Sidi Abdel Rahman, Marassi, Marina, Fouka Bay, Hacienda, and Almazah Bay. Property owners will also be able to list their properties for short-term rentals.
A separate component of the project will be the TELLR digital concierge, through which tourists can obtain information about restaurants, hotels, events, entertainment, and transportation between resorts.
The state-owned company Telecom Egypt intends to provide the project with telecommunications infrastructure and digital solutions. The authorities view the northern coast as an emerging international tourism, residential, and investment hub.
To extend the tourist season, there are plans to hold concerts, festivals, sporting events, and cultural activities not only in the summer but also during other times of the year. EgyptAir, TikTok, and regional airlines are participating in the promotion of this destination.
New Alamein will become the key city of the new Egyptian Riviera. According to data from Egypt’s official tourism portal, the city is being developed on an area of approximately 50,000 acres and is projected to have a population of more than 3 million residents.
Residential neighborhoods, hotels, universities, administrative buildings, and recreational facilities are being built in New Alamein. The city features a waterfront stretching about 14 km, home to restaurants, shops, a movie theater, a beach club, and concert venues.
Egyptian authorities are positioning New Alamein as the first fully-fledged, year-round city on the northern coast, designed not only for tourists but also for permanent residents.
Another important center will be Ras el-Hekma, where a large-scale project involving capital from the United Arab Emirates is underway. Together with New Alamein, Sidi Abdel Rahman, and other resorts, it is expected to form a continuous belt of tourist and residential development along the Mediterranean Sea.
The transition to a year-round model could boost demand for property purchases and long-term leases, as well as increase investor interest in hotels, retail properties, restaurants, and service companies.
For property owners, a longer season means the opportunity to increase occupancy rates and reduce their reliance on income from just the two summer months.
At the same time, the region’s development will require the construction of schools, medical facilities, transportation infrastructure, and affordable housing for permanent resort workers.
The project’s success will depend on whether Egypt can transform seasonal residential complexes into full-fledged cities with permanent jobs and sustainable demand for services.
Egypt hopes that the new Riviera will enable the country to attract more tourists from Europe and the Gulf states, increase real estate investment, and reduce the strain on traditional Red Sea resorts.
Demand for short-term housing rentals in the EU through online platforms continued to grow in early 2026. From January through March, guests spent 144.3 million nights in short-term accommodations booked through Airbnb, Booking, or Expedia. This is 9.7% more than in the first quarter of 2025 and 16.6% higher than in the first quarter of 2024, Eurostat reported on July 2.
Malta showed the fastest growth—up 30.5% year-over-year. It was followed by Slovenia—up 24.7%, Slovakia—up 23.5%, and Cyprus—up 22.3%. Double-digit growth was also recorded in Finland, the Czech Republic, Ireland, Croatia, Greece, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Poland, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.
Among the EU’s largest tourism markets, all seven of the most-visited countries also showed growth. Germany saw a 14.9% increase, Italy 14.7%, Poland 11.9%, France 8.1%, Spain 6.5%, Portugal 4.9%, and Austria 4%. This means that the market is growing not only in small countries with a low baseline but also in major tourism economies.
Eurostat clarifies that these figures specifically refer to guest nights in short-term accommodations booked through platforms, rather than hotels and campgrounds. For example, if a family of four stays in an apartment for three nights, this counts as 12 guest nights. The data is published as experimental statistics and is based on information that the platforms report directly to Eurostat.
Regional statistics are published with a delay. According to data for the fourth quarter of 2025, the most popular regions for short-term rentals through these platforms were Andalusia in Spain—9.9 million nights, the Canary Islands—8.2 million, and Île-de-France in France—7.2 million. Only regions from three countries—Spain, France, and Italy—made it into the top ten.
For investors, these statistics mean that focusing solely on overall market growth is no longer sufficient. It is necessary to take into account the specific country, city, seasonality, local restrictions on Airbnb and Booking, taxes, registration rules, and competition from hotels. In Europe, short-term rentals continue to grow, but are becoming an increasingly regulated and professional business.
The short-term tourist rental market in Spain is experiencing its largest decline in recent years: the number of listings on digital platforms in May 2026 fell by 10.7% year-over-year, according to the Spanish National Institute of Statistics (INE).
According to INE data, 40,836 thousand tourist accommodations were removed from the market over the course of the year. This marked the second-sharpest decline in supply in the agency’s history of compiling such statistics.
Despite the year-over-year decline, by the start of the peak summer season, the market had partially recovered compared to November 2025: supply increased by 3.4%, or 11,237 thousand units. In May, Spain had 341,001 thousand active tourist accommodations, which collectively provided 1.71 million beds. On average, each property had about five beds.
The decline in supply affected all of the country’s major tourist regions. The most significant decline was recorded in the Valencian Community, where the market lost nearly 12 thousand properties over the year, and the total number of active listings fell to 51,268 thousand. As a result, the region ceded second place in terms of supply to Catalonia.
Andalusia, despite a decrease of 5,527 thousand properties, retained its status as Spain’s largest vacation rental market, with 90,649 thousand apartments and villas. Catalonia lost 5,546 thousand properties but remained among the leaders with 51,3 thousand active listings.
The island markets also saw a decline. In the Canary Islands, the number of properties fell by 2,33 thousand to 48,356 thousand, while in the Balearic Islands, it dropped by 3,057 thousand to 21,304 thousand listings.
At the provincial level, the largest markets remain the tourist coastlines. Málaga leads with 45,176 thousand properties, followed by Alicante with 32,148 thousand and Las Palmas with 26,998 thousand.
When looking at individual municipalities, the largest concentration of tourist accommodations is in Madrid—10,836 thousand properties. Next are the city of Málaga—8,288 thousand, Barcelona—8,231 thousand, Marbella—6,987 thousand, and Seville—6,937 thousand properties.
Analysts attribute the decline in supply to stricter municipal regulations, license revocations, and growing political pressure on the short-term rental sector. In Spain, the conflict between the tourism industry, property owners, and local residents—who are facing a shortage of affordable long-term rentals and rising prices in major cities and resort areas—has been intensifying for several years.
For the real estate market, this signals a shift in phase. Tourist rentals remain a profitable segment, but they are becoming more heavily regulated and riskier for investors. Whereas high occupancy rates and tourist traffic were once the key factors, licenses, municipal restrictions, the legal status of the property, and the location’s resilience to potential bans are now increasingly important.
For real estate buyers in Spain, this is an important signal: a property that was previously viewed as a short-term rental vehicle may lose some of its investment appeal if local regulations change. This is especially true in overheated tourist areas, where authorities are most actively restricting short-term rentals.
At the same time, a reduction in the supply of tourist apartments could support the hotel and aparthotel market, as well as partially return some housing to the long-term rental market. However, this is unlikely to quickly solve the problem of housing affordability: demand for housing in major cities and tourist regions remains high, while new supply is limited.
