The Greek Tourism Confederation (SETE)representing the majority of Greek tourism businesses, submitted a series of proposals on Thursday presented for the first time in the spring aimed at regulating the short-term rental activity, guaranteeing quality and fair play in hospitality as well as resolving the thorny issue of the reduced availability of long-term rentals.
In a letter to the Minister of State Akis SkertsosMinister of Tourism Vassilis Kikilias and Deputy Minister of Finance Theodore SkylakakisPresident of SETE Yannis Retsos called on the government to introduce a special tax package including a municipal tax, a 5% withholding tax, setting a cap on properties that can be rented out by a single owner and setting a limit for property rentals depending on the load capacity of each zone .
President of SETE Yiannis Retsos.
SETE repeatedly asserted that the current vague framework has allowed unrestricted Airbnb-style activities fail to protect taxpayer hosting companies and distort healthy market competition.
Proposals
Among others, SETE proposes to limit the number of apartments in the same building rented as Airbnb-type tourist accommodation. Currently in Athensentire buildings have been converted into Airbnb-style “hotels,” in which case they would have to operate under hotel rules, SETE said.
The body also suggests tax deduction only for individual hosts renting no more than two declared properties and not for entities renting dozens of properties.
In addition, the federation offers short-term rental platforms such as Airbnb 5 percent tax on the total price of the short-term lease, which will be paid to the State.
And finally, SETE suggests capping the number of short-term rental units allowed in each municipal unit. It also recommends assigning responsibility to municipal tourist organizations which will define the reception capacity with decisions approved by the municipal council.
Last month, the Mayor of Athens Kostas Bakoyannis agreed on the urgent need develop a regulatory framework for short-term rentalsadding that, as is the case in the rest of Europe, in Greece too, municipal authorities should be responsible for setting limits on short-term rental activity according to the needs and capacity of reception of each area.
During the Event “National Strategy for Tourism 2030” held in October, Minister of Tourism Vassilis Kikilias said official letters would be sent to tourist accommodation rental platforms such as Booking.com and Expedia asking them to adapt their advertising policy regarding hotels and Airbnb-type rentals.
In the meantime, associations representing tourism and relevant sectors in Europe are eagerly awaiting a new regulatory framework for short-term rentalsthat the European Commission has declared would be ready by the end of the year.
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