Home hosts do wonders for state
Derek Nolan says Airbnb has a vital role to play in Tasmania’s tourism growth.
TASMANIA is the jewel of Australia. Renowned for its natural beauty and a burgeoning food and beverage scene fuelled by exquisite produce, the state is at the top of every international visitor’s wishlist.
Tasmania’s tourism industry has boomed over recent years but as the Mercury recently pointed out, hotels in the region are bursting at the seams and more capacity is needed. Given this, it’s little wonder there has been such growth in the home-sharing tourism market, as revealed by the Tourism Industry Council recently.
Tasmanians are increasingly looking to entrepreneurship to create their own opportunities. That includes using their own homes to help pay their bills and avoid missing mortgage repayments. In doing so, they’re also making a valuable contribution to the state’s economy and helping local businesses grow and create jobs. Airbnb hosts alone, for example, provided accommodation for guests who spent $86 million across Tasmania in 2015-16, according to a Deloitte Access Economics report and much of that was poured into regional businesses.
A significant proportion of Airbnb hosts are teachers and nurses, and a large portion are retired or semi-retired and use their homes to supplement their retirement funds and deal with the nationwide challenges of wage stagnation and rising costs of living.
Currently, Tasmania is also experiencing rapid population growth, recording 1.2 per cent growth for the past year (more than 6000 additional people) — the most significant population boom in 30 years. There have also been false claims about the number of whole homes listed on Airbnb in Tasmania — these claims grossly inflate the true number. The fact is “entire home listings” booked for more than six months of the year comprise just 0.25 per cent of Tasmania’s housing market. It’s also important to note that, as the Greens have pointed out, there are more empty houses than there are homeless people in Tasmania.
The truth is that the main reason for the current housing crunch is there simply aren’t enough new houses being built. And as the Mercury has also pointed out, Tasmania needs a consistent supply pipeline and also planning reform that would help boost housing stock and ease cost pressures. The paper also made the salient point that staying in a host’s home “delivers a more authentic travel experience than staying in a hotel or motel”, which helps attract visitors and drive tourism.
In December, the Government’s new compliance and reporting legislation will come into force. This legislation requires all Airbnb operators in Tasmania to supply information about how many rooms they share and whether it’s their primary residence. It will ensure all hosts are compliant with planning laws and will help to dispel some of the myths and false claims being made about Airbnb use in Tasmania.
Airbnb strongly supports this legislation and we are working assiduously with our hosts to ensure it is implemented as effectively as possible.
Our aim is to continue to work with Tasmanians to give them the choice to share their own home and earn additional income, while collectively helping to expand the state’s tourism industry, which means more dollars for small businesses and more jobs for locals.