The supply of tourist flats in Valencia and Alicante has fallen sharply over the past year, with more than 8,000 places lost between the two cities. The decline forms part of a national drop of 31,500 places across Spain’s 25 main tourist destinations, according to new figures released by industry group Exceltur.

Overall capacity has fallen by 8.8%, with Valencia recording a 14.8% decrease and Alicante an 18.3% drop. The average number of places in tourist accommodation across the cities studied now stands at 329,221, down from more than 360,000 in February last year.

Exceltur attributes much of the decline to the introduction of the Digital One-Stop Shop, which requires property owners to include an official registration number on rental platform listings. The organisation says the measure has strengthened oversight and led to a visible reduction in available properties.

Madrid and Barcelona still top the table with 70,106 and 64,842 places respectively, despite cuts of 10.8% and 5.2%. Ibiza has seen the steepest fall at 70.5%, followed by Palma de Mallorca at 37.9%. Málaga, Seville and Granada are the only cities to record modest growth.