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Airbnb has blamed “overtourism” in Europe on the resort trade, because the US short-term residence leases group hits again in opposition to criticism from regulators and residents that its service is resulting in overcrowding in vacation hotspots.
Theo Yedinsky, vice-president for public coverage at Airbnb, informed the Monetary Occasions that the corporate is the sufferer of “scapegoating” by native authorities, reminiscent of in Barcelona, the place there have been protests in opposition to the post-pandemic growth in abroad journey.
“We find yourself getting numerous the blame, particularly in metropolis centres [but] the fact is overtourism is de facto pushed by the lodges,” he stated. “It’s completely unfair.”
Lately, platforms that enable for short-term lettings reminiscent of Airbnb, Vrbo and Reserving.com have come underneath fireplace for points from making housing unaffordable for locals to water provides being depleted.
Whereas the vast majority of in a single day guests in Europe choose to remain in lodges — 63 per cent in 2024 in response to EU statistics — it’s the fast development in short-term lets that seems to fret residents most.
Final 12 months travellers stayed in brief lets for 715mn nights, a rise of 57mn in contrast with 2023, with the comparable determine for lodges up 73mn to 1.9bn, in response to EU knowledge.
Native protests have damaged out in Barcelona, Amsterdam and the Greek island of Santorini over complaints of decreased property provides and hovering rents.
Authorities have responded. Lisbon suspended the issuance of latest short-term rental licences. In January this 12 months, Greece launched a one-year ban on new short-term rental registrations in Athens.
Barcelona has taken probably the most drastic motion, with the Spanish authorities final month ordering Airbnb to take away practically 66,000 listings from its platform.
“I believe the Mayor of Barcelona wants to have a look at the development of lodges, he wants to have a look at lodges typically . . . and they should construct extra housing,” Yedinsky stated.
“They’re scapegoating Airbnb. They’re attacking a fraction of the issue after which questioning why it’s not getting higher,” he stated, including that lodges are driving many extra in a single day stays than letting platforms.
Since lockdowns ended, tourism to European areas reminiscent of Barcelona and Athens has boomed, with this 12 months set for an additional file. From June to the tip of August, greater than 115mn nights have been booked on the continent, up 13.5 per cent in contrast with the identical interval final 12 months, in response to knowledge from impartial knowledge analytics firm AirDNA.
Authorities crackdowns on short-term leases are “irritating” stated Yedinsky, as “politicians haven’t been utilizing knowledge” to have a look at the “issues which might be inflicting overtourism”, arguing short-term leases assist alleviate overcrowding by directing tourism to much less travelled locations.
Nevertheless, Ilaria Pappalepore, an affiliate professor in tourism on the College of Westminster, stated lodges are typically positioned in vacationer areas, whereas Airbnb leases are scattered throughout cities — resulting in a rise in noisy nightlife, rising home costs and crowded public transport in residential areas.
The problems brought on by short-term lets has been “brewing for a very long time however now it has exploded,” Pappalepore stated.
One senior govt at a rival journey platform stated that Airbnb’s lobbying strategy risked inflaming tensions with regulators and native communities. “They’ve been . . . fairly soiled of their combating,” the individual stated.
A spokesperson for HOTREC, the European resort trade’s foyer group, stated it’s time for Airbnb to “play by the identical guidelines” because the resort sector, including that the trade operates inside strict planning, licensing, and tax frameworks which might be aligned with metropolis methods and native tourism capability.
“The difficulty isn’t tourism per se, it’s unbalanced tourism. [Airbnb] operates with out enough oversight,” it stated.
Requested if Airbnb is frightened that the governmental crackdowns will considerably influence earnings, Yedinsky stated it “has labored with regulators everywhere in the world for the previous 10 years. We’ve been profitable in doing that . . . this firm will proceed to achieve success”.
Information visualisation by Clara Murray
