Registered accommodation providers and residents in the region have united to disrupt the number of unregistered holiday homes and Airbnb properties popping up in residential areas.
At a meeting with the Registered Accommodation Providers of the Margaret River Region, accommodation providers and residents vowed to fight for local and state governments to take action.
It was revealed in Busselton alone, the number of Airbnb listings had risen from around 100 properties to 1000 in 18 months.
Around 88 per cent of those properties were entire homes which saw the home owners earn $1.5 million this winter alone, meanwhile registered accommodation providers experienced a huge decline in business.
The Airdna statistics revealed the majority of visitors using Airbnb in the region were 20,000 people from Perth. In two years time, it is predicted one in five Busselton properties would be a residential holiday home.
RAPMRR member Debbie Noonan said holiday homes were fine but it had gotten to the point where there were now too many and they do not want to see what happened on the East Coast happen in WA.
“It is tourism accommodation. There needs to be sustainability of numbers and we need a way to halt it, regulation seems to be the only way,” she said.
Many of the accommodation providers said they had suffered a significant hit which could be matched month-by-month to the data showing the growing number of “pop-up hotels” listed on Airbnb.
WA online booking system, Levar managing director Ian Simmons said Japan recently introduced Airbnb regulations which saw listings drop from 65,000 to 152.
Vasse MLA Libby Mettam there had been significant investment made in this region and we did not need an unregulated level of tourism.
Ms Mettam said if registered accommodation providers were obligated to go through regulatory hurdles and pay commercial rates so should people with Airbnb properties.
“It is as simple as that, the issue needs state legislation,” she said.
Warren Blackwood MLA Terry Redman issued a notice of motion in parliament this month calling for an inquiry into non-compliant and non-registered accommodation using online booking platforms.
City of Busselton director of planning and development services Paul Needham said some of the approaches being suggested, would not be possible in WA without the introduction of new state laws.
Planning Minister Rita Saffioti said she requested the Department of Planning, Lands and Heritage to develop potential guidelines.
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Margaret River Mail
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