Hi there, I’m Hamish Taylor usually a Sustainability focused business development strategy consultant, but on this occasion I am engaging in the conversation on the basis of my recent run for UK Parliament in which I stood (unsuccessfully) to represent a largely rural constituency, Stirling and Strathallan in Scotland, with a high dependency on tourism for its economic well-being.
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Q.2 En Francia por ejemplo, había un sociedad (la conocí en 2008 o 2010) público-privada, EXTEL, que gestionaba cerca de 300.000 pisos de alquiler en zonas urbanas y que funcionaba como “operador económico” para dar soluciones de vivienda e invertir en la dinamización en zonas con potencial turístico que habían quedado al margen. Por ejemplo, a través de instalaciones de turismo de montaña, turismo náutico, etc. Parte de los beneficios servían para reinvertir en vivienda social.
Otro ejemplo en zonas rurales es la diferenciación entre “Agroturismo” es decir alojamiento, restauración o venta de productos de la explotación agraria y “Turismo en espacio rural” que ayuda a consolidar la actividad agraria. En Francia o Italia, esta diferencia es evidente mientras que aquí no se da.
Un tercer ejemplo es el papel de la Red de Parques Naturales Regionales de Francia, que diseñan Planes Estratégicos de Desarrollo Local para hacer compatible la conservación de hábitats, paisajes y recursos naturales, con la promoción económica para fijar población en los Parques y su entorno. El último Plan Estratégico, operativo desde 2016, se basa en 4 ejes:
- Cooperación. Fomentar la economía circular i la cooperación de todos los actores del territorio
- Atractividad. Para captar no sólo visitantes sino nuevos residentes en zonas con baja intensidad poblacional
- Acogida de proyectos de nuevas actividades.
- Apoyo a la innovación generando una alianza entre economía, energía y biodiversidad.
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Empowering people to help themselves. Job creation amongst the youth is critical. Our schools focus on subjects that gear the learners to enter universities – Those that do not like or are not good in Mathematics and Science are deemed to be stupid by those that excel in the subjects. This condescending hierarchy makes the learner that is not interested and sees no purpose in these subjects, ultimately suffer from inferiority complexes. The need to make room for the training of artisans, nurses, farmers, chefs, etc needs to be addressed in the curriculum. Who is going to produce the 5 million homes challenge that the UK government is facing? In order for the Top of the Pyramid to be sustainably employed, the base of the pyramid must be equipped and trained to produce product. Royal Dalton, Morris Minor, Leyland, Ship building, etc, Incorporating sustainable development principals will deliver positive economic consequences where the local population is not bothered by the affluent tourist.
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I’m afraid I don’t have any particularly useful inputs for this question. That said, it is the question I am most interested in so I am very much looking forward to reading all of your answers. My instinct is that an outright ban would not be the way to go in Cape Town and that instead we need to see stronger regulation and some limits on particularly harmful elements of Airbnb
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- · Limiting number of nights that apartments/houses can be rented out for tourism use (Amsterdam, Lyon, Paris, Barcelona, etc)
- · Stop allowing cruise ships to embark (Amsterdam, Venice (partly), Barcelona, (still only talked about)
- · Increase tourist tax (but in general this has little effect)
- · Try stop influence of huge tourism conglomerates to overtake parts of cities, offering the same commercial stuff everywhere
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A2.1. I’ll share some solutions that different regions have been implementing. However, I’d need to understand more in-depth the unintended consequences of each of these policies.
Amsterdam’s Strategies:
- Buyout Protection: Since April 2022, Amsterdam prohibits buying homes with the intent to rent them out within the first four years. This applies to properties valued up to €641,000. The goal is to prevent investor dominance and ensure homes remain affordable for middle and lower-income residents.
- Rent Increase Cap: This law caps annual rent increases in the liberalised market to the inflation rate plus 1 percentage point. Landlords cannot enforce rent hikes through new tenancy agreements if the tenant refuses. From July 2024, landlords must notify tenants annually of rent increases, with claims expiring after one year if not notified. These regulations aim to stabilise the housing market, curb investor dominance, and maintain affordability for residents amidst high tourism demand.
https://www.amsterdam.nl/en/housing/regulations-letting-privately-owned/
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A2.
The tourism sector requires a large number of workers. By addressing their needs, the continuity of businesses is ensured before, during, and after a catastrophic natural event.
Continuing with the example of Hurricane Otis, Acapulco is already a seismic zone and was part of the government’s reconstruction efforts after the 2017 earthquake in Mexico. However, when Otis arrived, the damage was mainly to roofs because the interventions had not been made from a multi-hazard perspective.
In response to this situation, Build Change adopted the following stance:
- Government efforts are insufficient for the scale of the problem. We need more actors to join in to create a more resilient housing stock.
- Partnerships with implementing actors to scale our impact and improve their response to natural events (600 homes in the first phase).
- In Mexico, there are various private sector and civil society organizations willing to join efforts for a humanitarian vision and from a practical perspective of business continuity.
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A2: There is a real need for comprehensive plans that focus on sustainable tourism development. We need more DMOs (Destination Management Organisations) to measure visitor numbers and assess capacity issues ensuring long-term strategies are implemented to balance tourism growth with the preservation of local culture, environment and quality of life for residents. A good example is VisitBritain’s ‘Local Visitor Economy Partnership (LVEP) Programme’: Local Visitor Economy Partnership (LVEP) Programme | VisitBritain.org
Through industry connections and national tourist boards, we have privileged insights into local challenges. For instance, the island of Bali has been known to alter traditional scheduled events & practices for the convenience of tourists, which undermines the cultural heritage and authenticity of the local community. Travel Matters highlighted this worrying trend in one of its featured blogs about ‘Staged Authenticity’: Have you heard about Staged Authenticity? — Travel Matters
In destinations known for mass-tourism, examples of this should include limiting cruise ship access to the area, setting a capacity quota for visitors and even a ticketing system. Local communities can learn more about responsible tourism or at least be aware of responsible business practice. Investment in improving infrastructure and transportation systems to handle influxes in crowds and people to help with overcrowding can be introduced through collecting a tourism tax, which the locals will be engaged with as they experience the improvements of transportation, public facilities and waste management.
What is important is that partnerships could be established to develop and implement sustainable tourism strategies, ensuring that the interests of residents and the city’s long-term sustainability are at the forefront of decision-making processes.
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Mitigating the negative impacts of tourism on housing and residents is essential for sustainable development. Here are some strategies and successful examples:
- Visitor Management and Distribution:
o Strategy: Control tourist numbers and their distribution in time and space.
o Example: In Hamburg, concentration values were analyzed based on hotel and Airbnb data to manage visitor flow. Though Airbnb is not the only provider that should be analyzed! - Promoting Sustainable Practices:
o Strategy: Encourage renewable energy use, energy-efficient travel, and reduce single-use plastics.
o Example: Many destinations adopt eco-friendly practices to minimize environmental impact. - Community Involvement:
o Strategy: Involve residents in tourism planning and experiences.
o Example: Engaging locals in creating authentic city or territorial experiences benefits both residents and tourists. - Gated Tourism and Deseasonalization:
o Strategy: Limit access during peak times and promote off-peak visits.
o Example: Komodo National Park (Indonesia) and Uluru Mountain (Australia) successfully implement these approaches.
Remember, tailored solutions are essential, and collaboration between stakeholders ensures a balanced approach to tourism growth.
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A2.2. Empty Home Taxes:
- Spain: The new Spanish Housing Law allows municipalities to increase the IBI (property tax) on homes that remain unoccupied for over two years, especially if the owner has at least four such properties. The surcharge can range from 50% to 150%, depending on the duration of vacancy and the number of empty homes owned. The aim is to optimise the use of residential properties and address housing shortages.
- San Francisco, Toronto, and Vancouver: These cities have implemented taxes targeting vacant residential units. Properties unoccupied for more than 6 months of the year are subject to this tax, which aims to increase housing availability.
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A2. As mentioned in my answer to Q1, in the case of Ibiza, measures to mitigate the negative impacts have been few and often more ideological than practical. In the late 1980s, the hotel supply was limited due to an excess, with the total capacity of tourist accommodation fixed since 1993 (approximately 80,000 beds). The excess supply allowed growth to continue until 2000, and in the following years demand remained stagnant, but from 2015 tourist demand was exceptionally high, and the lack of hotel capacity was covered by tourist rental (legal or not). Such a rigid hotel supply has caused this excess of demand to be met through other means, adding pressure to the housing sector. Other sectors, like taxis, have experienced similar situations.
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We identity that one of the ways is education, increasing local knowledge of these effects, first of all so that they are main actors and not secondary. Not only know these effects, to reduce the negative impact but so that they can also benefit from the positive.
As an example is a School Hotel that we installed in a forest reserve. Young people learn not only about hospitality, but the value of caring for and preserving the reserve. Generating incomes to sustain the school fees and train youth to be employable. In turn, these young people, members of the community, generate a positive vision of preservation that installs the topic in each home, in each family and each visitor. The students become a promotor of the defense of trees and a generator of change in their community, promoting the generation of resources without deforest
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A2: Some examples I am aware of are:
• Amsterdam has prohibited the development of new hotel buildings as well as limiting the number of travellers allowed to stay overnight.
• Venice has launched the entry fee for visitors who come to experience the beautiful canals but only staying for one day. The city has an overnight tax in place too.
• Machu Picchu suffers from heavy footfall, which causes significant wear & tear, leading to soil erosion and damage to the ancient ruins. The Peruvian government has introduced ticketing systems and visitor limits to protect the Historic Sanctuary of Machu Picchu, a UNESCO World Heritage Centre.
Other countries are planning marketing campaigns to encourage visitors to travel to less-visited places and boost longer staying patterns, as well as addressing seasonality of their destinations.
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A2.3. Long-Term Rentals in the Balearic Islands:
- The 2018 housing law in the Balearic Islands regulates long-term rentals, requiring contracts to be at least 5 years (7 years if the landlord is a legal entity). The security deposit is capped at two months’ rent to reduce the initial financial burden on tenants, making renting more accessible.
Combating Illegal Short-Term Rentals in Ibiza:
- Ibiza is taking measures to address illegal short-term rentals through regulations and an agreement with Airbnb, established in 2020. This collaboration enables the identification and removal of unauthorised listings from the platform. The island has Tourism Inspection Services to enforce these rules. Additionally, the Consell de Ibiza urges the regional government to implement measures to shut down illegal tourist accommodations. (Perhaps others know more about how this is going).
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Q2.1 En el caso de Torroella de Montgrí-L’Estartit, situado en el centro de la Costa Brava, un municipio que inició su expansión turística a mediados de los años 50 del siglo pasado, los ayuntamientos democráticos hicieron una apuesta decidida de limitar el crecimiento turístico a través de los Planes de Ordenación Urbanística Municipal (POUM).
Así, el Plan aprobado en la fase de expansión turística de 1969 preveía la creación de 120.000 plazas de alojamiento de las que sólo un 10% para la población local, en un municipio que en aquellos momentos tenía 5.000 habitantes. Los ayuntamientos democráticos formularon 2 nuevos Planes Urbanísticos (1983 y 2001) en los que uno de los objetivos principales era reducir las zonas urbanizables, y asegurar la conservación de paisajes y ecosistemas de gran valor y que, dan identidad al municipio: Islas Medes, Macizo del Montgrí, desembocadura del río Ter.
El proceso inicialmente fue muy complicado y conflictivo pero los resultados han sido evidentes, reconocidos y actualmente, cuentan con un alto consenso de la población local. En estos momentos, en relación con otros municipios de la Costa Brava, es el que ha construido menos viviendas de segunda residencia y alquiler turística en relación a la población local; sin embargo es el segundo en Producto Interior Bruto y los ratios de desempleo son más bajos que la media de la comarca del Baix Empordà.
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A2-Crucial to have timely data on both short-term let activity and private rental sector price developments to monitor activity and identify particular pressures in local areas and transfer of properties between the two sectors. Compliance with regulations cannot be effectively monitored without good data/short term let register.
-‘One Host One Home’ policy to reduce multi-property listing and commercialisation of platforms? Fines for platforms and agents in breach of regulations? All require adequate enforcement to be effective though. In Ireland, change of use planning permission is required for short-term lets in areas with rent controls, but the numbers received are very low compared to properties on listing platforms. Lack of effective enforcement.
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Spreading the Benefits: Instead of focusing solely on popular destinations, efforts can be made to encourage tourists to explore lesser-known areas. This distributes economic benefits more fairly and protects vulnerable cultural or natural sites from overcrowding. Civil society groups and local businesses can collaborate to create itineraries and marketing campaigns that highlight these hidden gems. Think City has done that by bringing to the forefront some of the hidden gems in the state of Perak, namely Lenggong which is the home of the skeletal remains of the 11,000 year old Perak Man
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Increasing Housing Supply: Collaboration between businesses, government, and civil society can ensure new developments meet the growing demand for housing without displacing residents. This could involve offering tax breaks to developers who dedicate a portion of their projects to long-term rentals or creating incentive programs for residents to rent out spare rooms. Perhaps taking a page out of Portugal’s approach when they announced in March 2023 a hefty package of measures to tackle a housing crisis, including the end of its controversial “Golden Visa” scheme and a ban on new licenses for Airbnbs and other short-term holiday rentals. Their government also offer tax incentives to landlords who convert tourism properties into houses for locals to rent. Barcelona’s mayor also pledged to end short-term tourist lets in the city within five years as the country continues its nationwide crackdown on mass tourism. The mayor does not plan to renew any of the 10,101 tourist licenses granted to landlords when they expire in November 2028.
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Another Malaysian example is Melaka, one of the MOST popular tourism destinations we have:
- According to the National Property Information Centre (NAPIC), Melaka continues to maintain its reputation as the state with the most affordable housing prices in Malaysia, with an average price of RM207,600, compared to the national average of RM458,751 up until the third quarter of 2023.
- Consequently, there has been a rise in the rate of home ownership in Melaka, which currently stands at 84.5 percent, surpassing the national average of 76.5 percent.
- Melaka’s success is attributed to a state government policy requiring at least 50% of housing projects exceeding four hectares to be allocated for affordable housing.
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Planning rules for short-term lets: This year （2024） the UK government proposed to introduce changes to regulate short-term lets (like Airbnb) to protect local residents from being pushed out their communities by excessive short-term lets. Homeowners will still be able to let out their own main or sole home for up to 90 nights throughout a year without planning permission.
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A2:
The real impact of tourism on communities and destinaion is readily observable in Venice, Italy, the global posterchild of what tourism looks like in “successful” destinations. Over 70% of the local population has been displaced in the past decades and the local community, economy and heritage are seriously threatened by the current state of tourism.
To counter this phenomenon, we have created Venezia Autentica (VA), a social enterprise that makes it easy and fun for visitors to discover and support the authentic Venice.
Concretely, VA aims to retain more revenue locally and to redirect it towards local businesses and organisations that benefit the local community, economy and natural and cultural heritage. This way it helps maximise the positive impact of each and every visitors and to unlock the potential of tourism to preserve and regenerate the community and what matters to them.
Links:
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Consumer Platform: https://veneziaautentica.com
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Impact and Model website: https://impact.veneziaautentica.com
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Translation Q2: In France, for example, there was a public-private partnership (I found out about it in 2008 or 2010) called EXTEL, which managed around 300,000 rental apartments in urban areas and acted as an “economic operator” to provide housing solutions and invest in revitalising areas with tourism potential that had been left out. For instance, through mountain tourism, nautical tourism, etc., part of the profits were reinvested in social housing. Another example in rural areas is the differentiation between “Agroturismo” (i.e., accommodation, restaurants, or sale of products from the agricultural operation) and “Tourism in rural areas,” which helps consolidate agricultural activity. In France or Italy, this difference is evident, while it is not the case here in Spain.
A third example is the role of the Network of Regional Natural Parks of France, which designs Local Development Strategic Plans to make the conservation of habitats, landscapes, and natural resources compatible with economic promotion to settle the population in the Parks and their surroundings. The latest Strategic Plan, operational since 2016, is based on four axes:
- Cooperation: Promoting the circular economy and cooperation among all actors in the territory
- Attractiveness: To attract not only visitors but also new residents in areas with low population density
- Welcoming new activity projects.
- Supporting innovation by creating an alliance between economy, energy, and biodiversity.