A tourist license is the permit you need to rent your home to tourists in Spain. Your autonomous community (your regional government) grants it, not the national government and not Airbnb. With it you get a registration number, and that number goes in every listing.
Below you’ll find what it is, who grants it and what it is called in each region, with a link to the guide for yours. If you already know what it is and want to apply, go to how to get a tourist license in Spain.
What a tourist license is
The tourist license is the administrative authorization that qualifies a home to operate as tourist accommodation: to be offered to travelers, on a regular basis and for a price. It is what turns your flat into a legal economic activity rather than a disguised rental.
The tangible result of that authorization is a registration number, a code that identifies your home to the administration and that you are required to display in every listing. Without that number you cannot advertise legally and, increasingly, the platforms themselves remove listings that don’t show it.
Who grants it: a regional competence
Here is the key that orders everything else: in Spain, tourism is an exclusive competence of the autonomous communities. There is no single “Spanish” tourist license; there are seventeen regional frameworks, each with its own registry, technical requirements, timelines and penalty regime.
That means the same home would face different conditions depending on whether it is in Málaga, Barcelona or Bilbao. The town hall comes into play mainly through urban planning: it decides in which zones and buildings tourist use is allowed, and it is the one that declares saturated zones. That is why the real process is usually a two-way conversation, autonomous community and town hall.
What changed in 2026: the annulled national registry
During 2025 a national registry was launched, the NRUA (Single Registration Number for Rentals), which aimed to assign a national code to every short-term rental home before it could be advertised. In 2026 the Supreme Court annulled it (ruling STS 620/2026, of 21 May), holding that it encroached on the tourism competence of the autonomous communities.
The practical consequence is simple: the license you need to obtain is the usual regional one, not an overlapping national code. If you manage listings and don’t know which number to show, we analyze it in detail in the Supreme Court annulling the NRUA, and you can verify any code in the guide on how to check a tourist registration code.
Tourist license by autonomous community
Each region gives the license a different name. Find yours in the table. If we have a guide for your region, the link is in the last column.
| Autonomous community | Usual name | Guide |
|---|---|---|
| Andalusia | VUT (vivienda de uso turístico), formerly VFT | Tourist licence in Andalusia · Málaga’s moratorium |
| Balearic Islands | ETV (estancia turística en vivienda) | Tourist licence in the Balearics |
| Basque Country | VUT (vivienda para uso turístico) | Registering in the Basque Country |
| Canary Islands | VV (vivienda vacacional) | The 2026 holiday let law |
| Cantabria | VUT (vivienda de uso turístico) | What to do if yours did not adapt |
| Castilla-La Mancha | VUT (vivienda de uso turístico) | Cuenca’s suspension |
| Castilla y León | VUT (vivienda de uso turístico) | |
| Catalonia | HUT (habitatge d’ús turístic) | Tourist licence in Catalonia · Checking a HUT number |
| Galicia | VUT (vivienda de uso turístico) | Tourist licence in Galicia |
| Madrid | VUT (vivienda de uso turístico) | Tourist licence in Madrid · CIVUT |
| Principality of Asturias | VUT (flat in a building with an owners’ association) or vivienda vacacional (house) | Asturias holiday rental rules |
| Region of Murcia | VUT (vivienda de uso turístico), whole or by rooms | Tourist licence in Murcia |
| Valencian Community | VUT (vivienda de uso turístico), also VT | Tourist licence in Valencia |
The acronym identifies the category, but behind each one there are its own rules on minimum floor area, equipment, identifying plaque, maximum capacity and information obligations. Two identical homes can comply in one community and fall short in the next one over.
Besides the licence, some places make you charge each guest a tax per person and night: Catalonia, the Balearics and three Galician cities, and the Basque Country from 2027. Rates by region and city are in the tourist tax in Spain, and Basque rates in the Bilbao, San Sebastián and Vitoria tourist tax.
What you will be asked for
Almost every region asks for the same things. The town hall must allow tourist use in that area and in that building. The home needs a habitability certificate and some minimum equipment. Your building’s owners’ association must not have banned it in its bylaws.
The full list, the steps and the costs are in how to get a tourist license in Spain.
Saturated zones: the surprise brake
The biggest surprise for those investing isn’t the paperwork, it’s discovering that no new licenses are granted on their street. Cities such as Barcelona, Madrid, Palma, San Sebastián, Seville or Málaga have limited, suspended or completely closed the granting of new licenses in certain neighborhoods, aiming to protect access to residential housing. We cover Madrid and its Plan RESIDE, Cuenca’s Old Town, Málaga’s moratorium and the Basque Country’s stressed areas.
What happens if you rent without a license
Operating without the corresponding authorization is an infringement of regional tourism regulations. The usual consequences are financial penalties (with the amount set by each community according to severity), removal of the listing by the platforms and an order to cease the activity. It’s not a theoretical risk: data cross-checks between platforms and administrations make listings without a valid number ever easier to detect.
If you want to understand how an irregular rental is identified and the real risks you take on, we develop it in the guide on illegal vacation rentals.
License and traveler registration: don’t confuse them
It’s the sector’s costliest misunderstanding: believing that the license covers everything. It doesn’t. They are two independent layers.
- The license entitles you to exist as tourist accommodation. It’s a step you take once (with its renewals or notices of change).
- The traveler registration requires you, for every stay, to identify your guests and report their data to the authorities through SES.Hospedajes, in compliance with Royal Decree 933/2021.
You can have the license spotless and still be breaching the traveler registration on every booking. That is why it pays to automate that part with a traveler registration app that files the report on its own, and to know the obligation well through the guide to traveler registration.
Frequently asked questions
Is the tourist license national or regional? Regional. The attempt to create a national registry (NRUA) was annulled by the Supreme Court in 2026, so the license you need is granted by your autonomous community.
Is the license the same as the registration number? They are parts of the same chain: when you obtain the authorization or file the responsible declaration you are registered and receive a registration number. That number is what you show in your listings.
Do I need a license if I only rent a few weeks a year? Generally yes, if you offer the home regularly and for tourist purposes. Each community sets the “regular use” threshold, so it’s worth checking before assuming you are exempt.
Can I have a single license valid across Spain? No. As it’s a regional competence, the license works for the community that grants it. If you had homes in different regions, each one would need its own registration.
Does having a license exempt me from traveler registration? No. They are separate obligations. The license entitles you as an accommodation; the traveler registration (SES.Hospedajes, RD 933/2021) must be met on every stay, regardless of the license.