Hoteliers and experts denounce “invasion of privacy” in the new Interior traveler registry

Starting next December 2 – if there are no new extensions – hotels, tourist apartments or rental car companies will be obliged to collect and deliver to the Ministry of the Interior almost three times as much data on their clients as until now, including sensitive information such as credit card and bank account numbers or personal addresses. This is stated in a royal decree that the Government approved in 2021 and that has since registered various extensions that have delayed its application. Now, the matter has returned to the public focus as a result of its upcoming entry into force, which has fueled the debate about its implications in the field of privacy, the right to privacy and the competitiveness of the Spanish tourism sector.

The measure has the tourism industry up in arms, which mainly questions the administrative burden it places on the sector. They point to the impossibility of automating the process, which will imply additional manual work for establishments that may also lead to an increase in errors. But the new regulation has also angered data protection experts, who warn of the “invasion of privacy” represented by the expansion of data to be collected and transferred to the authorities.