Fuerteventura hotel granted permission to stay standing on public coastal land for 30 years

The Altamarena hotel in Morro Jable has been granted a 30-year concession covering more than 12,600 square metres of public coastal land, with the possibility of a further 30-year extension.

The decision concerns the Hotel IFA Altamarena, part of the Lopesan group, beside Playa del Matorral in southern Fuerteventura.

Approved by ministerial order on 7th October and published in Spain’s Official State Gazette (BOE) yesterday, Thursday 22nd October, the concession covers precisely 12,622 square metres.

Its conditions state that Altamarena SA will not have to pay an occupation fee for the land.

The arrangement gives the company permission to occupy land classified as part of Spain’s publicly owned coastline. It applies to an existing hotel site, rather than announcing a new hotel development.

Why does the hotel need a concession?

The land was included within the official boundary of the public coastal domain under a decision approved in 2009 and amended in 2014.

That boundary, known in Spanish as a deslinde, establishes which areas fall within the publicly owned coastal strip.

The hotel company previously challenged the boundary decisions. In November 2018, the National Court rejected its appeal against the 2014 amendment, leaving its land within the public coastal domain.

The court proceedings recorded that the hotel had been built on a former saltmarsh.

What has now been approved?

The concession has been awarded under transitional provisions in Spain’s 1988 Coastal Law dealing with occupation rights over land incorporated into the public coastal domain.

The initial term is 30 years, with an extension for another 30 years possible. That additional period has not been automatically granted.

For residents and holidaymakers familiar with Morro Jable’s beachfront, the announcement concerns the legal arrangements governing the hotel’s existing site. The land remains classified as public coastal domain; the concession gives the company a right to occupy it.