Digital infrastructure for better tourism governance.

UTEM (Unified Tourism Ecosystem Modules) is citytax's modular platform for public authorities. It registers accommodation, gives every unit a unique registration number (UPN), runs review workflows, collects monthly guest statistics and supports tourist-tax administration, with dashboards for national, regional and municipal levels.

From 20 May 2026, where a registration scheme applies, hosts register each unit online and receive a registration number immediately. Online platforms must show the number on every listing, check numbers at random and send monthly activity data to the authorities through a national single digital entry point.

UTEM covers the authority side of the regulation: online, declaration-based registration with one number per unit and no personal data in it (Art. 4); a public registry and a free, machine-readable validity check (Art. 4(5), 10(3)); requests to rectify by a deadline, suspension, withdrawal and reinstatement of numbers (Art. 6); a machine-to-machine API for platforms to check numbers and send monthly activity data (Art. 7, 9, 10); and access for competent authorities limited by role and territory, with a full audit trail (Art. 10(2)(c), 12(2)).

Under Article 10, every Member State with a registration procedure must run a single digital entry point: the one place where online platforms send activity data, registration numbers, unit addresses and listing URLs, and run their random checks of numbers. It forwards the data to the competent authorities and offers a free, machine-readable database for checking numbers. UTEM already provides these functions: platform accounts with API keys, monthly machine-to-machine data submission, number checks, an interface for authorities limited to their territory, and a free validity database. Being completed: an API that follows the Commission's technical requirements, a manual channel for small platforms that report quarterly, bulk checks and publication of the area lists. UTEM can serve as a country's SDEP or connect to one that already exists. For booking platforms, citytax brings the different national SDEP interfaces together in StayGateway (in development): one unified API and one set of credentials give a platform access to every country, instead of a separate integration per Member State.

Yes. The regulation leaves room for national choices, so the remaining parts of its model are being completed as features each country switches on: issuing the number at submission and verifying afterwards, notice of intent and a hearing before suspension, removal and information orders to platforms, 18-month retention limits, the published lists of areas where registration applies, and the monthly statistics feed. A deployment outside the EU, such as Ukraine's, follows its own national rules.

The regulation requires registries to comply with the GDPR (Regulation (EU) 2016/679) and to use host data only to issue the number and enforce the rules (Art. 4(5), 5(5)). In UTEM, every user sees only what their role and territory allow; the public registry, the number check and the registration number itself contain no personal data; every access and decision is written to tamper-evident audit trails; declarations are signed with a qualified electronic signature; data is encrypted in transit; and analytics and exports use aggregated figures.

The regulation sets maximum periods: a host's information and documents may be kept while the unit is registered and for at most 18 months after the host removes it (Art. 5(5)); platforms' activity data for at most 18 months after receipt (Art. 12(3)). National tax rules may require tax records to be kept longer. Automatic deletion at the end of these periods is being completed in UTEM, with the audit trail pseudonymised rather than deleted, so past decisions remain verifiable.

The regulation applies across the EU from 20 May 2026, but whether hosts must register is decided by each Member State and, depending on the country, by its regions or cities. Where a registration scheme exists, its procedure and the data exchange with platforms must follow the regulation.

The Unique Property Number is the registration number citytax recommends: 21 characters made of the country code (ISO 3166-1), the NUTS 3 region, the NACE activity code and nine random characters. It contains no personal data and anyone can check it. The regulation leaves the number format to each Member State.

No. Where no system exists, UTEM provides the complete workflow. Where registers already exist at national, regional or municipal level, UTEM connects them, for example by linking regional registration systems to a national interface for the data exchange with platforms.

Through a machine-to-machine API: platforms check registration numbers and submit monthly activity data. StayGateway, now in development, will let a platform connect once, with one set of credentials, to every national interface that UTEM supports.

Every month, accommodation providers report arrivals, overnight stays and guests' countries of origin by web form or CSV upload, and booking platforms send their activity data through the API. UTEM validates the figures, rejects duplicates and shows which monthly reports are still missing.

Dashboards and an interactive map at national, regional and community level, broken down by accommodation category and guests' country of origin. Analysts work with aggregated figures, municipal officers see only their own community, exports are audited, and the public sees anonymised figures.

Municipalities set tourist-tax rates and tax agents per accommodation category and year, based on the council decision. UTEM calculates the tax due from the monthly reports, and the citytax module lets hosts pay online while the city sees what is due and what has been paid. Tourist tax is national law, outside Regulation (EU) 2024/1028.

Yes. The regulation applies only to short-term rental units and excludes hotels, hostels and campsites, but a country may register every type of accommodation. UTEM does, so one registry, one set of statistics and one tourist-tax process can cover the whole sector.

In Ukraine, citytax won the GovTech Lab Ukraine tourism challenge in 2026 and is developing a national platform with the State Agency for Tourism Development. A working MVP demonstration is planned for November 2026 in Kyiv.