What else to note besides what Airbnb have sent us? Thanks
"Some of the issues identified in the paper and the proposals, if they were to be implemented, would have a significant impact on Airbnb Hosts in South Africa. These issues include thresholds on the permissible length of rental, as well as a registration system requiring inspection of premises before they can begin operating."
HI South Africa BNB owners - here is my objection which you can copy and paste and email. Please email as it affects all of us NEGATIVELY so we need to raise our formal objections pls. Thanks!
I believe there is a green paper on review of the policy which guides the tourism sector at the national level in South Africa.
My Airbnb is small scale but I do not have the capacity or funds to register it formally on CIPC as this will entail further costs to maintain the taxes, accounting and books.
I also cannot be restricted to length of stays. This will severely impact our income, especially with the cost of living and rising inflation rates and poverty on the rise.
Costs of formal regulation will pass onto us and we cannot afford measures that we need to put in place to qualify as we are already tyring to stay afloat.
After Covid we are already struggling to make ends meet and this will affect us badly.
The objections from the bigger tourism companies like the hotel sector is unfair as they have the budgets, manpower, legal expertise and shareholding to sustain and bring in money – we cannot compete with that at our smaller scale. They are using this Green Paper to bring airbnbs and places like us down and reduce our market penetration by getting us more heavily regulated they want to control the tourism sector and they have an unfair advantage.
Most of our guests also have the experience of coming here to our neighbourhood, an area they probably wouldn’t have visited, which in turn boosted local businesses and communities that don't typically benefit from tourism. They visit the local restaurants and pubs etc and we are helping other businesses stay afloat.
A guesthouse in a suburban neighbourhood also boosts the value of houses for other homeowners and gives them a stronger felling of belonging and pride in their community.