Tourism
Malaga authorises more tourist accommodation complexes in the city centre and CapuchinosMunicipal group Con Málaga criticises the city council for issuing permits despite the promise for a moratorium on tourist flats
Añádenos en Google Plot of land on Calle Eduardo Domínguez Ávila in Malaga where developers will build 20 tourist flats. (SUR)Jesús Hinojosa
10/06/2026 a las 13:35h.The number of tourist accommodation projects in Malaga city centre and nearby areas like Capuchinos keeps growing.
In May, the municipal urban planning department granted new permits for even more tourist accommodation businesses, precisely when the local ruling team were working on a measure to regulate tourist flats and hotels with fewer than four stars. The measure includes a one-year moratorium to temporarily halt further authorisations.
Until that moment arrives, the city council can continue autorising projects. One of the latest is for the construction of a building with 20 tourist flats on Calle Eduardo Domínguez Ávila 6, in the Capuchinos area. The urban planning department has granted authorisation for this project, which includes a basement with three parking spaces and a rooftop swimming pool.
Due to its location in an area through which the San Telmo Aqueduct runs (a unique infrastructure that brought water to the city centre from the Guadalmedina basin in the 18th century), the developer must carry out special archaeological monitoring during the earthworks.
The company behind this project is La Corrala de Capuchinos, property of Mayor of Estepona José María García Urbano. García Urbano does not receive any salary for his position as mayor, which he assumed in 2011. He is involved in several private companies.
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Jesús Hinojosa
The project, for which the city council took three years to obtain the necessary permits, has a budget of 1.8 million euros and an 18-month construction period. The design is by architect Luis Escarcena Gil.
Very close to this plot of land, on Alameda de Capuchinos 2, Indian millionnaire Kabir Chandnani Sukhwani plans to build a hotel with over 100 rooms. The initial plan for the building was to house 36 homes.
The city council has also given the green light to archaeological studies for the renovation of the building on Calle Strachan 9 for the construction of eight tourist flats and commercial premises. Three years ago, Madrid-based company Ágora Inversiones Patrimoniales acquired ownership of this building, which the city council auctioned due to the previous owners' inaction in developing it.
Similarly, last month, the city council approved the construction of a one-star hostel with six double rooms on Calle José Denis Belgrano 3, in the heart of the old town. It is also processing the environmental permits for two other tourist flat complexes: one on Marqués de Guadiaro, which connects Álamos and Beatas, and the other on Calle Huerto del Conde, parallel to Calle Victoria.
Deputy spokesperson for municipal group Con Málaga Toni Morillas describes this proliferation of tourist establishments as "a plague" that is "detrimental to the affordable housing stock in the city of Malaga". She criticises the local governing team for not yet approving "a single measure to curb" the phenomenon.
"This has a huge impact on housing prices and reduces the number of rental properties available to working families," Morillas recently said.
"The governing team said they were going to implement a one-year moratorium on tourist flats, but the days keep passing without this happening, while new tourist licences emerge in the city," she stated.
Con Málaga will present a motion to the next council meeting, demanding a five-year moratorium on new tourist flats and similar accommodation businesses.