The Spanish government is bringing in new rules demanding hotels gather personal data on tourists – including family information, bank cards and addresses – and hand it over to security services.
Spanish hotels already ask guests for their ID card or passport details, but the new rules are expected to be the strictest in the EU with up to 31 pieces of personal data collected.
The legislation is set to come into force from Monday, and will require tour operators, holiday rental platforms and car hire companies to gather data on customers.
All the information then has to be uploaded onto a platform for sharing with Spanish security forces.
Spain’s interior minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska said the rules were necessary to help tackle organised crime.
Hospitality bosses have slammed the rules as draconian. ‘It’s like ‘Big Brother’ – it’s nuts and will cause chaos,’ said Ramón Estalella, the head of the country’s leading hotel association, Cehat.
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 have concerns over breaching customers’ privacy.
It said the obligations could force companies to breach the EU’s GDPR data protection legislation.
Hotels could be lumped with fines for doing this, Cehat said, which could exceed the government’s proposed fine of 30,000 euros (£25,000) for not complying with the decree.
Speaking to The Telegraph, Estalella pointed out that Spain is already the only country which requires hoteliers to send guests’ ID information to the police.
He added that it includes unrealistic expectations, such as requiring car rental companies to know the registration of the car the customer will be driving.
‘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 group has also argued that it could cause considerable delays to people’s holidays, for example when they are trying to check in during busy times.
The tourism sector contributes 12 per cent to Spain’s GDP, and the move has prompted fears that tourists may chose to go elsewhere if they do no want to hand over their personal details to police.
Grande-Marlaska insisted in October that the new rules had ‘balanced all considerations, including both the right to privacy as well as the need to protect the security of society as a whole’.
The rules are set to come into force next week after several delays over three years.