“It is an old claim that the tourist accommodation sector has been making to us and a concern that we share,” said the chief, who also announced that the treatment of the file by legislators will begin on next Tuesday.
The project clarifies: “We are not talking about punctual accommodation as a sporadic cultural exchange, or about the person who rents their house in season to be able to deduct their tax expenses. We are talking about real organized hosting companies, or individuals who make it their profession”; alluding to firms like Airbnb or Booking.
What would be the changes for tourist rental through digital platforms
As stated in the document presented this Friday in Parliament, the objective is to regulate housing accommodation for tourist purposes, as well as their administration or exploitation by their owners or third-party administrators.
Meanwhile, the measures to be applied will be aimed at non-hotel companies and “all those that provide similar services to registered hotel accommodations, their owners or those who operate or manage them” and that, in turn, do so at least five times a year and for a total time of more than 90 days.
Among the regulations, it is foreseen the create a new record where all homes of this type are included, which will also have the obligation to register as such with the departmental government that corresponds to them. In this way, they will cease to be conventional homes to become “non-hotel companies”.
According to the statistics of the Ministry of Tourismthe two largest companies come to offer close to 6,000 beds each year, a much higher number than the 1,700 beds provided by the traditional sector.
“We believe that there is proven unfair competition from individuals today with the platforms. It is something similar to what happened at the time with uber. It is another of the areas of economic activity in which technology brought this informalism”; he opined before this medium Viera.
“Now then they are going to be regulated and they will be required to register like all hotels or accommodations that regularly pay their obligations, to enable accommodation must meet all the requirements”, explained the hierarch.
Source: Ambito
