HCMC real estate business group wants Airbnb-like services legalized

The Ho Chi Minh City Real Estate Association has called for regulating accommodation-sharing services like Airbnb for better management and taxation.

Such services have become popular in Vietnam in recent years as they help meet the large demand for low-cost accommodation from tourists and fetch homeowners an income from spare apartments and rooms, it said in a report

HoREA pointed out that since this kind of business is still not regulated authorities are losing an opportunity to collect taxes and having difficulty managing it.

There have even been cases of people using accommodation provided by such websites for criminal activities, it said.

It called for modifying the law to allow homeowners to rent them as long as they register the business and pay taxes.

There were 40,000 Airbnb listings in the country in January this year compared to 1,000 in 2015, according to tourism development consulting firm Outbox Consulting.

HoREA also wanted restrictions on the number of days homeowners could rent out in a year and apartment management fees to be increased since it increases management work.

The number of Airbnb units in Ho Chi Minh City as of the last quarter was 13,200, down 37 percent year-on-year due to the Covid-19 pandemic, according to data from market research firm AirDNA.

In Hanoi, the figure was down 27 percent to 10,600.