PETALING JAYA: Airbnb has hit out against the Malaysian Association of Hotels’ call for a new cap on short-term rentals, equating it to capping Malaysian tourism.
Airbnb head of public policy for Southeast Asia Mich Goh (pix) said caps run contrary to the goal of growing Malaysian tourism as well as the Malaysia Productivity Corporation’s (MPC) work in reducing red tape and enhancing innovation.
“The most important and pressing issue for Malaysian tourism right now is growth. How is Malaysia going to grow and diversify tourism? How is Malaysia going to reach its ambitious tourism targets by 2020?
“Simply achieving Malaysia’s bold tourism goals is challenging enough without the added burden of unnecessary red tape. The fact is a cap on short-term rentals would be a cap on growth,” she said in a statement today.
She said restrictive caps would mean less choices for travellers, which in turn would lead to fewer travellers and tourism growth.
“They would also hurt the Malaysian families, small businesses and communities who depend on short-term rentals. While caps may be suitable for cities with legacy housing affordability issues, they are not suitable for Malaysia which needs to grow tourism and has an oversupply of homes,” she added.
The MPC is currently considering how best to regulate short-term rentals and has been in consultation with the wider industry on its draft regulatory framework.
As part of the consultation, the Malaysian Association of Hotels called for a new cap on short-term rentals namely a night cap, which limits the number of nights a Malaysian host could share their property in a year.
Airbnb noted that the number of visitor arrivals to Malaysia has dropped to 25.8 million in 2018 from 25.9 million in 2017.
Last week, Airbnb released new research showing the overwhelming majority of Malaysian voters’ support for short-term rentals.
Based on research from Expedition Strategies, 89% of Malaysians would support allowing people to rent their property through Airbnb and 78% would consider staying in short-term rentals while 50% believe there should be a national approach to regulating short-term rentals.
