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The Royal Decree, which came into force yesterday, triples the information that natural or legal persons engaged in accommodation and vehicle rental activities must send to law enforcement agencies.

It requires providers of these services to guarantee the veracity and accuracy of the data, with fines of up to 30,000 euros for failure to keep adequate documentary records.

Some aspects of the regulation raise legal doubts for the sector, as they contravene some state and European regulations.

The Galicia Tourism Cluster held a meeting yesterday with different associations of the accommodation activity that showed their rejection and profound disagreement with the Royal Decree 933/2021, of 26 October, which came into force yesterday and which establishes the obligations of documentary registration and information of natural or legal persons who exercise activities of accommodation and rental of motor vehicles. This regulation triples the amount of data that must be requested from clients, makes it compulsory to keep a computerised register and requires service providers to guarantee the veracity of the data, as well as requesting certain information that may contravene other state and European regulations.

In view of this situation, the Galician Tourism Cluster is calling for an in-depth review of the Decree, an extension for its entry into force, as well as more information and even an information campaign to facilitate the gradual implementation of these new dynamics that require a significant overload of administrative work. In addition, the sector fears that these measures will generate rejection and problems with clients and economic damage for companies.

With the current regulations in force until now, the accommodation providers collected nine types of data: registration, identity document number, type of document, date of issue, name, surname, sex, date of birth, country of nationality and date of entry. Since yesterday, with the entry into force of the new Royal Decree, this figure has increased to 31: name, first surname, second surname, sex, identity document number, document support number, type of document (DNI, passport, TIE), nationality, date of birth, place of habitual residence, full address, town, country, landline, mobile phone, e-mail, number of travellers, relationship between travellers (in the event that any of them are minors), date and time of entry, date and time of departure.

In addition, financial data such as type of payment (cash, credit card, payment platform, transfer, etc.), card type and number, bank account IBAN, mobile payment solution, holder of the means of payment, card expiry date and date of payment are also required, which could be contrary to European regulations in this area.

These data will have to be kept for three years in the computerised register, and penalties for non-compliance can be up to 30,000 euros, with establishments being held responsible for the accuracy of the data recorded.

Furthermore, despite the new registration obligations established by the Royal Decree, the technical definition and regulation of how this information will be sent to the State Security Forces and Corps is still pending.