What is a Spanish licencia turística?
A licencia turística is the permit you need to rent out your home as a holiday rental in Spain. Each autonomous community has its own version (HUT in Catalonia, ETV in the Balearics, etc.), with its own number and its own rules. No licence = no right to advertise.
Spain has no national tourist licence — tourism is run separately by each autonomous community. So the scheme changes depending on where your property is: in Catalonia it's called HUT (Habitatge d'Ús Turístic), in the Balearics ETV (Estada Turística en Vivienda), in Andalusia VFT, in the Valencian Community just "tourism register", and so on. Procedure, requirements and timelines differ per region.
Despite the differences, almost every region asks for the same basics: current cédula de habitabilidad (or first-occupation licence), the property must be in a zone where the municipality allows tourist use (the PGOU), a maximum bed capacity, minimum equipment (linen, kitchen, heating/AC depending on the region) and a clearly identified person in charge. When you finish the procedure you get a unique number that must appear on every listing (Airbnb, Booking, your own website).
In saturated areas — Palma de Mallorca, central Madrid, some Barcelona neighbourhoods — there are moratoriums: no new licences are issued. If you're buying a property to rent out as tourist, the very first thing to check is whether licences are even being granted on that street. If not, no matter how much you pay for the property: legal tourist renting is simply not possible.
Watch out for the second layer: in many regions, beyond the autonomous register you also have to do a municipal step — a declaración responsable or activity permit at the town hall. This is the most common trap: a host gets the autonomous licence, thinks they're done, and later gets fined by the municipality for not reporting locally. Always check both levels before you start renting.
Why it matters
Listing your property as tourist accommodation without a valid licence is an offence that can end in fines of tens of thousands of euros and, in serious cases, administrative closure. Airbnb and Booking — under pressure from autonomous authorities — now demand the licence number on every listing and remove the ones that fail to show it. No licence means no legal bookings: this is the first step of your activity, not collecting the first night.