Airbnb fast becoming an intrinsic part of Malta’s tourism sector GRTU deputy president
Private holiday accommodation, such as those offered through Airbnb are fast becoming an intrinsic part of Malta’s tourism sector, GRTU deputy president responsible for the tourism and hospitality sector Philip Fenech has told The Malta Independent.
Private holiday accommodation is growing fast on an international level, and the same can be said for the sector in Malta, he explained. In the first six months of 2019, he said, around 273,000 guests used private tourism accommodation on the island, which amounts to around 22.6 per cent of all tourists. He said that in the first six months of 2017, 182,000 people used such accommodation.
“Airbnb is a new phenomenon, which took off worldwide. It is another segment within the lodgings sector. In Malta, it has utilised a lot of properties that were previously unused, where people who had empty flats rented them out as private holiday accommodation. People refurbished them and in fact, Malta’s private holiday accommodation offerings are different from many other countries. Abroad, many-a-time there would just be a room within a family flat for example. We do have that, but we also have beautiful townhouses, nice apartments and more that are being used for private holiday accommodation purposes.”
Fenech explains that while in the past the distribution of wealth coming from tourism accommodation lodgings lay simply with hotels and guesthouses, today the distribution of wealth has changed and is broader.
“Seeing the rise in tourism numbers from 1.7 million a few years ago to 2.7 million tourists, whereas before everyone used to stay in a hotel, a portion of these guests are now staying in private holiday accommodation. The wealth from this sector started to partially directly go into the pockets of people rather than just through the corporate structures – which are also important as they employ many people.”
There are travellers who prefer an independent approach to a holiday, leaving them with more disposable income as they are generally cheaper, meaning that this would result in more funds being spent on meals, excursions, and buying presents.
In addition, he explains, private holiday accommodation also did not really tax the construction industry as much, as many properties were already in existence but were not being used.
Asked about concerns relating to unregistered private holiday accommodation, he explained that the Malta Tourism Authority is tracing unregistered accommodation by even tying arrangements with Bookings.com and TripAdvisor, for them not to advertise a property unless the license number is provided. “It is extremely important to bring people who rent such properties onboard fiscally as before it was creating unfair competition.”
Asked about the concern that there are still a number of private holiday accommodation operators operating illegally, he said that the aforementioned exercise is bringing operators on-board. He said that he believes the government also has a team of people who trace such properties online, to see who is advertising what and chasing these operators to register, but he says that this is not easy. “If one advertises a property in Sliema without saying exactly where it is for example, it is not that easy to find out where the property is.” He said that tourists of course are not being penalised.
But while private holiday accommodation might take some business away from hotels, he believes both can and will co-exist, as different tourists look for different kinds of holidays.