Minister of Tourism Ian Gooding-Edghill has reiterated that the new Tourist Accommodation Act is intended to protect Barbados’ reputation as a highly sought-after tourism destination.
He made the point as a guest on Starcom Network’s Down To Brass Tacks call-in programme, where a barrage of questions were posed by callers concerned about the impact on small operators such as individual homeowners and others operating on platforms such as Airbnb, in the sector referred to as the Shared Economy.
It has been suggested that the Ministry of Tourism is placing Barbados’ vacation rental tourism sector at a disadvantage over the larger hotels, with certain provisions pertaining to the industry contained in the legislation which was passed in the House of Assembly on Tuesday.
It will require all accommodation offered to visitors in Barbados to be licensed, registered and inspected. Those who breach the requirements could find themselves being fined a maximum of $250 000.
Callers identifying themselves as business operators in that area of tourism raised issues such as the licensing requirements, fees and taxes required of people who were, in many instances, already providing this information and paying the relevant fees indirectly through accommodations like Airbnb.
Key role
One operator said the vacation rental sector was playing a key role in Barbados’ tourism industry and should, therefore,
be treated in a manner that reflected this.
“Whereas you would have had individuals who are only coming for a hotel stay and experience, people are now coming to Barbados for other reasons. Airbnb has been around for over 15 years and people in Barbados have been offering the service for over 15 years and there has not been a negative impact to the tourism product overall,” the caller stated.
She charged that the legislation was bringing new expenses to people in the shared accommodation sector, placing them at an unfair disadvantage of operation, while they were not receiving the same level of assistance as the large hotels.
However, Gooding-Edghill said the vacation rental sector was being assisted through the Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc.’s strategy.
“When we go out and market Barbados, we market Barbados as a destination, we market Barbados as a product and we market Barbados in terms of the accommodation offerings that we have. We don’t market exclusively for any hotels . . . . What we always say is that we have a range of accommodation, including vacation rentals.”
(GC)
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