Airbnb will not bring in millions

E DII TO RII A L

ludicrous requirements of the past (eg. area of room, number of sockets or fridge size determining the star-class of hotels or apartments), but by putting the whole industry in order.

The new trend for self-operated accommodation (vacation and rental sites such as Airbnb) is spreading around the world, but it is most successful where there is regulation, owners declare their income and pay their taxes, and where accommodation demand is very high.

Enjoying almost three seasons of record tourism, Greece has now decided to chase the unregulated holiday rental properties, as it has discovered that is losing about 300 mln euros in revenues every year.

Considering the proportion of beds and arrivals in Cyprus, then it would be fair to say that the government is loving in the region of 40-50 mln euros a year, an amount that could be better spent on marketing Cyprus properly, and not on the walls of a train station in a low-income area of London, or in pissoirs in Paris.

Holidaymakers who choose to rent villas and apartments from the likes of Airbnb, have no guarantees of safety, are unaware of the absence of insurance cover and have no way to secure their money back if they are dissatisfied.

On the other hand, regulated accommodation providers and their supporting tour operators have to dish out hundreds of thousands, if not millions, in bonds.

It was nice while it lasted, but the government has been duped by the greedy developers who sold villas and apartments knowing that these would go on the holiday rental market.

This nothing more than tax evasion and the CTO and the Ministry of Finance know all too well. Bur when will they do anything about it?