Airbnb regulation policy for Nelson Mandela Bay under discussion

The Nelson Mandela Bay municipality wants to level the playing field for the provision of short-term accommodation by drawing up a policy that will allow the city to regulate Airbnbs.

Economic development tourism and agriculture executive director Anele Qaba said this at a stakeholder engagement session on Thursday.

While the city did not know how it would go about regulating the short-term rentals listed on the Airbnb website, several consultations would map the process, Qaba said.

The intention to regulate Airbnbs has raised concerns in the city’s tourism industry, with some questioning whom the new policy would favour.

Qaba, who was addressing tourism role players at the Athenaeum, said the key issue was compliance.

“The idea is to make the tourism industry work in this city and nothing else,” he said.

“No one is against Airbnb and it’s a key segment of the sector.”

Qaba said their view was that having some short-term rentals regulated while others were not was unfair.

“The key issue is that we need to ensure that we level the playing field.

“For us as regulators, we have to ensure that there is compliance with the relevant policies and processes, be it those of the municipality or of the tourism industry.

“We can’t have any operation that is not in compliance with such processes within the municipality.

“If there is support needed we will provide it but compliance is a key issue – that is the bottom line.”

He said they would deliberate and come up with a win-win situation for all parties.

But Airbnb representatives have explained that listing your accommodation on Airbnb does not mean businesses will escape regulations and the regulation of Airbnbs was under way in Cape Town.

Airbnb representative Collin Wardle said the company was delighted at the idea of being regulated.

“We feel that the vision of government and tourism entrepreneurs can be supported by good regulation,” he said.

“Airbnb supports fair and proportionate regulation of home-sharing and experiences.

“Good regulation is the tool, however we can’t decide on the tool until we know what it is we are trying to regulate and what we are trying to achieve.”

Beachfront sector safety forum chair Cliff Hanks, who also owns Beachwalk Bnb, said there was a credibility issue.

“[Airbnb] started off as a community of people sharing a home.

“There is a huge number of people who are not sharing homes – they are buying flats and they let them out and that raises issues,” he said.

This meant there was no control and people tended to host major parties.

“That, for me, is a big problem,” he said.

Hanks said more people listing their homes on Airbnb had seen a spike in car theft in Humewood as more and more cars were parked outside.

A tourism researcher who identified herself as Nicole said the city ought to research the extent of Airbnb in the metro and who the target market was before drawing up a policy.