The Canary Islands Vacation Rental Association (ASCAV) celebrates that the tourist accommodation intermediation platform Airbnb "has finally decided to eliminate the illegal offer".
Airbnb committed last week with the Government of the Canary Islands to "remove the ads that do not comply with local regulations in a manifest way" and to prevent "short-term rentals without a registration number."
The association has been asking Airbnb for many years to take this measure, as it "has greatly damaged the image not only of the vacation rental sector but also of tourism in the Canary Islands."
ASCAV regrets that to date Airbnb has not taken any action in accordance with ASCAV's requests.
"All the illegal offers that are advertised on the portal and that in many cases are not even homes, have undoubtedly caused a terrible reputation to the sector," ASCAV adds in a statement in this regard.
The association hopes that "the measure will be taken by the portal as soon as possible and with all the consequences."
It insists on the importance of "not only not allowing new unauthorized ads, but definitively eliminating all illegal vacation homes without a registration number in the Registry of the Ministry of Tourism."
In particular, it has shown its rejection of advertisements such as accommodation in places that "are not even homes, such as tents, yurts, vehicles, boats, etc."
"In addition to all the damage caused, -they explain in the statement to the media- it represents an unacceptable unfair competition to all the owners who do comply and who have religiously complied with all the required administrative requirements."
In this context, ASCAV highlights that "the Canary Islands is the only autonomous community in which owners voluntarily pay the IGIC, understanding from minute one the importance that the tourism sector must bring benefits to the entire society of the archipelago."
On the other hand, the association regrets that "the successive Ministries of Tourism have not taken this initiative before or that Airbnb and all other platforms have not echoed the demands in this regard that ASCAV had already been making systematically before."