"Vacant Houses in Urban and Rural Areas Should Be Allowed for Shared Accommodation Introduction"

Airbnb Conducts Survey Among Tourism and Media Professionals
Over 80% of Domestic Experts Express Support

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heung-soon] The majority of domestic experts support allowing homeowners to use vacant houses, which are not occupied, for lodging purposes.

According to the results announced on the 9th from an online survey conducted last month by the global accommodation sharing platform Airbnb, targeting a total of 156 individuals including tourism scholars and journalists, 80-90% of respondents expressed the view that shared lodging utilizing vacant houses should be permitted.

◆ "Vacant houses should be allowed for lodging use"= The survey was conducted separately for urban and rural areas. Regarding shared lodging in urban areas, 78.8% of respondents expressed support. For rural areas, an even higher 88.4% showed approval.

The government stated at the '2nd Innovation Growth Strategy Meeting and the 21st Economic Ministers' Meeting of 2020' held on the 4th, "There is demand for shared lodging businesses utilizing vacant houses in farming and fishing villages," and added, "We will improve related systems based on discussions with stakeholders." However, it did not mention the utilization of vacant houses in urban areas.

Among survey respondents, 85.9% agreed with the claim that the current 'Foreign Tourist Urban Homestay Business' available in urban areas should be changed to 'Urban Homestay Business' by removing the restriction to foreigners only. In early April, Airbnb, together with the Foreign Tourist Urban Homestay Business Association, sent a letter to the Prime Minister's Office and the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism requesting that the regulations for foreign tourist urban homestay businesses be changed to allow domestic residents as well.

However, the government’s position is to maintain the existing foreign tourist urban homestay business and establish a new shared homestay business (tentative name) limited to 180 days per year. Some worry that if the government’s plan proceeds, the coexistence of two types of homestay businesses targeting foreign tourists and others in urban areas could cause confusion.

The majority of survey respondents emphasized that to prevent this, "It is better not to create a new business type but to delete the 'foreign tourist' clause from the existing system." A government official said, "The direction for urban homestay business requires further discussion, including gathering opinions from related industries and stakeholders," and refrained from elaborating.

◆ "Is the 180-day operation limit necessary?"= 54.5% of survey respondents answered that if only houses meeting the actual residence requirement are allowed to operate shared lodging businesses, there is no need for an operation day limit. Only 21.8% said that an operation day limit is necessary. The existing foreign tourist urban homestay business, which only accepts foreigners as guests, also has no operation day limit.

According to Airbnb, as of February this year, major overseas cities such as San Francisco, New York, Paris, and Amsterdam do not impose operation day limits on renting out spare rooms in the homes where the owners live.

Even for renting out vacant houses that do not meet the actual residence requirement, opinions that operation day limits are unnecessary were more than 10 percentage points higher. 43.6% said operation day limits are unnecessary, while 32.1% expressed that limits are needed.

Meanwhile, 94.9% of respondents agreed with the claim that "shared lodging can be a good source of income for individuals with idle residential facilities." Regarding the claim that "activating shared lodging has a positive impact on the Korean economy," 80.2% agreed, and 86.5% agreed that "activating shared lodging positively affects Korea's tourism industry."

Regarding the claim that "shared lodging can be a means to solve the problem of neglected vacant houses," 71.2% agreed, and 85.9% agreed that "shared lodging can be a means to revitalize rural areas."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.