In Turkey, they counted the average number of private apartments and houses rented out to tourists on just one Airbnb — and were amazed at the scale of the “subversive activities” of those who found them. After all, many rent out real estate through social networks and messengers, preferring not to shine in front of the authorities.
Yes, in Antalya alone, 24,000 houses are rented out by this service alone – and there is also “Booking”, and social networks, and “word of mouth radio”. Therefore, “the problem of accommodation of tourists outside the hotel is intensifying” – and in some places, raids are already being conducted to detect illegal lodgings. Tourists are extreme, as always.
“The attractiveness of daily rentals for homeowners has made Airbnb competitive with hotels,” the Turkish press said. In Istanbul alone, about 45,000 real estate units are offered for rent, of which almost 68% are apartments or houses, the average price per night is 2.6 thousand Turkish liras ($96 at the current exchange rate). In Antalya, this website presents almost 28,000 real estate units, mostly private houses, and you can rent a 2-bedroom house in the city center for 2-3,000 Turkish lira for a night. There are slightly fewer offers in Bodrum and Izmir – about 7 and 10 thousand offers, respectively, the asking price – from 1.5 thousand liras for an apartment in the city center to 15 thousand for a villa.
At the same time, Airbnb is not the only site that offers daily rentals. sahibinden.com has 23,726 daily rental ads all over Turkey. There are also relevant sites on social networks.
As a result, some places have already started calling on the population to “knock” on illegal renters – the authorities of the most popular district of Istanbul, the Fatih district, where almost all the tourist spots are located, were the first to do this. The municipality of the district detects illegal renters in a well-known way – they are called to “knock” on them by banners in different parts of the district, which state: “You can report houses or apartments that are rented out daily in your district.” As emphasized in the Turkish press, such apartments often “cause security problems” and citizens willingly “rent” them. After that, a special commission and the police arrive at the address. As a result, apartments are sealed — and tourists have to leave without any hope of getting their money back.
By the way, tourists from many countries are engaged in this business. “While we thought that we would now make money from them, they started making money themselves,” – this is how outraged Turkish hoteliers commented on the situation with foreigners renting out their houses in Turkey to other tourists at another resort. We are talking about the resort of Bursa, which is popular with tourists from Arab countries.
Arab vacationers followed the example of German and English tourists. “It has become a common practice: those who come to Turkey as tourists and buy a house there, then turn it into a commercial activity and become competitors to hotels. The practice of renting out houses bought by foreigners is now practiced in Bursa, which is one of the most popular destinations for tourists from Arab countries,” Turkish experts say.