The Spanish government is introducing new rules requiring hotels to collect personal data from tourists – including family information, bank cards and addresses – and hand it over to security services.
Spanish hotels already ask guests for their ID or passport details, but the new rules are expected to be the strictest in the EU, with up to 31 personal details collected.
The legislation will come into force from Monday and will require tour operators, vacation rental platforms and car rental companies to collect data on customers.
All information must then be uploaded to a platform to share with Spanish security forces.
Spain’s Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska said the rules were necessary to help combat organized crime.
Hospitality bosses have criticized the rules as draconian. “It’s like ‘Big Brother’: it’s crazy and it will cause chaos,” said Ramón Estalella, president of the country’s main hotel association, Cehat.
Spanish hotels already ask guests for their ID or passport details, but the new rules are expected to be the strictest in the EU and up to 31 personal details will be collected.
The group has now launched a legal challenge over the rules, saying that while its members are committed to working with the government on security, they are concerned about violating customers’ privacy.
He said the obligations could force companies to breach the EU’s GDPR data protection legislation.
Hotels could be fined for doing this, Cehat said, which could exceed the government’s proposed fine of 30,000 euros (£25,000) for failing to comply with the decree.
talking to The telegraphEstalella noted that Spain is already the only country that requires hoteliers to send guest identification data to the police.
He added that it includes unrealistic expectations, such as requiring car rental companies to know the license plate of the car the customer will drive.
“Not only could it violate fundamental privacy rights, but it also threatens to complicate and hinder the experience of millions of visitors who choose Spain as a destination,” Cehat said in a statement.
The tourism sector contributes 12 percent of Spain’s GDP, and the move has raised fears that tourists will choose to go elsewhere.
The group has also argued that this could cause considerable delays to people’s holidays, for example when they try to check in during peak times.
The tourism sector contributes 12 percent of Spain’s GDP, and the measure has raised fears that tourists will choose to go elsewhere if they do not want to hand over their personal data to the police.
Grande-Marlaska insisted in October that the new rules had “balanced all considerations, including both the right to privacy and the need to protect the security of society as a whole.”
The rules are scheduled to come into force next week after several delays over three years.