In Turkey, a massive campaign has begun against cheap alternatives to hotels for tourists: the private sector, both illegal and the Airbnb rental sector. We will remind you that it was named as the reason for the low occupancy of hotels.
As the representatives of the industry assure on the pages of the Turkish media, earlier this practice did not attract attention because it remained below a certain level, but it reached its peak in 2023, and seriously affected the occupancy of hotels.
As the president of the Mediterranean Association of Hoteliers and Tourist Operators (AKTOB), Caan Cavaloglu stated: “The number of people in Geleza has increased by 23%, but the hotels are not full. Why? Because this year, about 19% of accommodation was made in houses, and we are talking about tourists with high incomes – even those who preferred hotel villas are now staying in private houses. This has seriously affected hotels above the average segment.”
In this regard, Turkish tourism media reported that only Airbnb earns 20% of the commission for renting out houses, and last year the company’s worldwide revenue amounted to 2.2 billion dollars. They also listed the countries that are trying to fight the service. It is also Italy, where Airbnb has been frozen in the center of tourist cities such as Florence, and in Rome, tourists are charged an additional tax of 2-8% of the nightly rate, Austria, where Airbnb is banned in certain areas of the capital. France requires those who rent out an apartment to register, and you can rent out housing for no more than 120 days a year, and that is still a lot — in London no more than 90 days, and in Amsterdam no more than 30. But in Portugal, on some islands In Malaysia, and in Barcelona, which is popular with tourists, the service is generally prohibited.
We will remind you that tourists who rent private houses daily will also soon be taxed in Turkey. This is how the Minister of Culture and Tourism, Mehmet Ersoy, reassured Turkish hoteliers, who said that the relevant law on Airbnb-style daily rentals with its taxation will be ready at the end of the year – and according to it, taxes will be paid to tourists for the entire time they stay in such houses or apartments. Read details at this link.