Lodge house owners have complained that vacation leases now outnumber lodge rooms.
Lawmakers in Greece are debating powerful new guidelines for vacation leases in a bid to crackdown on overtourism.
Underneath the proposed modifications renovated warehouses, underground areas and former industrial properties will likely be faraway from rental web sites like Airbnb.
“Basements will now not be allowed to be used. Rental areas should function main residential use areas, with pure mild, air flow and air con,” Tourism Minister Olga Kefalogianni advised state-run tv forward of the talk.
“We’re introducing minimal operational and security requirements as a result of this can be a tourism product,” she mentioned. “Our aim is the long-term, sustainable, and high-quality growth of Greek tourism, not simply breaking data yearly.”
The draft laws coincides with a one-year ban in Athens on new short-term rental licences in fashionable vacationer areas like Kolonaki, Koukaki and Exarchia, with violations punishable with a nice of €20,000.
Balancing Greece’s tourism advantages with housing for locals
Trip leases have helped broaden Greece’s important tourism trade – straight accounting for 13 per cent of the nation’s gross home product in 2023 – but in addition made life costlier due to increased rents throughout the price of dwelling disaster.
The federal government says it desires to steadiness tourism advantages with housing accessibility and is providing tax incentives for property house owners to shift away from short-term leasing.
Greece anticipated tourism income to achieve a file €22 billion in 2024 because of a projected 35 million vacationer arrivals, in line with official estimates.
The variety of rooms accessible in vacation leases was roughly equal to these in lodges nationwide in 2023, however almost double in central Athens, in line with a examine by a nationwide hoteliers affiliation. The physique desires a crackdown on properties booked utilizing web sites like Airbnb.
Airbnbs in Athens: Heated debate within the Greek parliament
On the opening day of debate, a number of opposition lawmakers accused the centre-right authorities of disregarding the social prices and the pressure on assets attributable to overtourism and referred to as for extra complete rental restrictions.
“You might be permitting the focus of short-term leases in areas fashionable with vacationers. That’s drastically reworking neighbourhoods and displacing everlasting residents,” left-wing lawmaker Kalliopi Vetta advised parliament.
“The enlargement of tourism goes unchecked,” she mentioned. “This concentrate on revenue alone is occurring on the expense of the surroundings and society.”
The draft laws, which additionally introduces new security and operational necessities for vacation leases, is because of be voted on later this month.