The EU Parliament has joined hands with the Council of Europe in an effort to boost a balanced tourism landscape on the continent.
For this reason, it has agreed to draft a regulation aimed at the collection and sharing of travel data for short-term accommodation rental services.
As per the proposed regulation, the EU Parliament aims to boost transparency over the span of a short period of time with respect to accommodation rentals.
Consequently, it will be able to assist public authorities in overseeing this crucial aspect of the travel and tourism industry in an effective manner.
New regulation
According to the tentative timeline shared, the new regulation is likely to be implemented for a total of 24 months after its starting date.
An announcement further disclosed that due to the rise of virtual services and a collaborative economy, the short-term rental of residences and rooms has seen a surge.
For this reason, these accommodation rentals for short periods are mainly facilitated through online platforms, such as Booking.com and Airbnb, among others.
The EU Parliament went on to point out that short-term residences and rentals for stays have their own set of advantages to tourists and hosts.
However, it also took to shedding light on the fact that they have some challenges as well that are associated with local communities.
The locals are especially at a disadvantage as they have to suffer through issues like a shortage of low-cost housing.
The Parliament
The relevant authority further noted that the fresh regulations set forth would bring about standardized registration criteria for owners and hosts of short-term rental accommodations.
As a result, each property website will now include a distinctive registration number that will be assigned at the time of booking.
The authority went on to emphasize that its primary objective is to boost the dissemination and gathering of data from online platforms and hosts.
The gathered data will then be exchanged with various public administrators throughout the EU.
Consequently, by doing so, the Parliament aims to strengthen tourism statistics. Moreover, it believes that data collection will empower administrations to fight against illegal offerings.
The announcement from the relevant authorities went on to state that this initiative will be instrumental in cultivating a more sustainable ecosystem for tourism throughout the EU.
This is also the union’s way of keeping up with the digital changes in this day and age in the travel and tourism sector.
Spanish secretary
After the EU Parliament’s announcement to draft a new regulation for travel data collection, the acting Spanish Secretary of State for Tourism, Rosana Morillo Rodriguez, stated that this could be a big win for the sector,
In her words, the new regulation would create easy and streamlined information rules for any and all platforms.
Furthermore, she stated that it would facilitate the registration and other processes for hosts.
Consequently, a higher degree of transparency will help boost trust for visitors and authorities alike.
In addition, she hopes that it will help foster better tourism policies to ensure long-term environmental and social sustainability.
