Mérida, Yucatán — A whopping 35 percent of all paid lodging happening through Airbnb, said the the leader of a hotel trade group.
The statistic shows the importance of regulating private homes that are competing with established hotels, said Héctor Navarrete Medina, president of the Mexican Hotel Association of Yucatán.
The source of the trade group leader’s statistic was not reported, however.
Airbnb is an online platform that makes it easy to find renters and complete transactions. But Airbnb hosts don’t pay taxes and tariffs as hotels and registered guesthouses do.
His group has been working with legislators, drafting proposals that would tax Airbnb hosts and force them to comply with security and safety regulations.
About 900 properties in Yucatán are listed on the digital platform, and Mexico is the world’s fifth largest destination on the platform, he said.
Meanwhile, hotels are being built at a breakneck pace to serve a growing tourist and business client base. Mérida will have 10,065 rooms in 249 hotels by the end of the year.
Source: Sipse
