Lisbon, Nov 13, 2024 (Lusa) - Online property rental platform Airbnb has welcomed new rules for short-term rentals in Portugal - an accommodation category officially known in the country as local accommodation (AL) - and offered to work with the government and municipalities, which have now been given greater decision-making powers over this sector of activity.
On 23 October, the approved legislation was published in the state gazette, the Diário da República, that establishes that municipalities will now be able to adopt their own administrative regulations defining "the procedures and means of action" for AL activity in their territory.
In a statement released on Wednesday, welcoming the fact that the new legal framework "allows families and several cities in Portugal to continue to benefit from tourism, offering guests an affordable accommodation option for travelling," Airbnb said it is "available to work with local authorities to create proportional and gradual rules that take into account the needs of each municipality - or even each neighbourhood."
In the particular case of Lisbon and Porto, Airbnb is offering its "collaboration to draw up new rules that protect occasional hosts and preserve local communities, avoiding generic solutions and taking into account the needs of each parish or neighbourhood."
According to data provided by the company, in Lisbon "only six of the 24 parishes have a density of active listings on Airbnb of more than 3%," while in Porto "seven of the nine parishes have a ratio of local accommodation to total housing below 3%."
Airbnb also recalls the "significant" economic impact of short-term rentals, stating that in 2023, the platform's guests in Portugal spent an average of €116 per day, generating €2.4 billion in revenue and €1.1 billion in taxes.
The US-based platform claims to have supported "approximately 55,000 jobs in Portugal, in sectors such as catering, local commerce, entertainment and events" and says it has collected €63.3 million in tourist taxes in Lisbon and Porto.
Portugal's right-of-centre government had already announced its intention to decentralise powers regarding the registration of short-term rentals, once again leaving it up to local authorities to decide whether to put an end to AL in residential buildings or, alternatively, not to immediately cancel the registration and "invite the parties involved to reach an agreement" where there is opposition to the existence of AL in a building.
The new legislation establishes that, in municipalities with more than 1,000 AL units, "the municipal assembly must expressly decide, within a maximum period of 12 months from the date on which the municipality reaches 1,000 registrations, whether to exercise the regulatory power" attributed to it.
In the statement, Airbnb argues that "a national registration system, together with data sharing with authorities, are essential tools to provide local authorities with the transparency they need to better understand the impact of local accommodation activity."
SBR/ARO // ARO.
Lusa
