{"id":107137,"date":"2017-09-08T08:39:18","date_gmt":"2017-09-08T13:39:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ict-pulse.com\/?p=107137"},"modified":"2017-09-08T08:39:18","modified_gmt":"2017-09-08T13:39:18","slug":"good-caribbean-countries-bed-airbnb","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/2017\/09\/good-caribbean-countries-bed-airbnb\/","title":{"rendered":"Is it good that Caribbean countries are getting into bed with Airbnb?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Several\u00a0<\/i>Caribbean<\/i>\u00a0governments have\u00a0<\/i>entered\u00a0<\/i>into agreements with Airbnb, primarily to facilitate \u00a0tax collection. Is that a good thing?\u00a0<\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Over the past several months,\u00a0and for regular readers of our weekly news roundup, there have been a\u00a0number of\u00a0articles on\u00a0Caribbean countries entering agreements with\u00a0Airbnb<\/a>. Airbnb is an online\u00a0hospitality\u00a0marketplace\u00a0that allows individuals to offer accommodations, such as\u00a0houses, apartments and rooms, for short-term lease or rent.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Frequently, these accommodations are being offered at cheaper prices when compared with traditional hotels in the same area. Hence,\u00a0although they can be an attractive option for many\u00a0travellers, essentially, they are competing directly with\u00a0the more established hospitality offerings.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Impact of Airbnb<\/h3>\n

Although Airbnb is based in the United States, in virtually all Caribbean countries,\u00a0scores of\u00a0properties\u00a0have been listed on the platform. Further, since many Caribbean countries do not readily offer low-cost accommodation, the private listings\u00a0on Airbnb can be a godsend to those who cannot afford the premium rates the established hotels tend to charge.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Having said this, and across the region, tourism is the leading revenue earner in most countries \u2013 not only through the purchases travellers make whilst visiting, but also through the taxes\u00a0governments collect, especially on accommodation.\u00a0With the increased use of Airbnb, hotels are not the only ones feeling the pinch through lower occupancy and lost revenue. Governments\u00a0have\u00a0also\u00a0been\u00a0losing out with respect to\u00a0taxes\u00a0revenue.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As expected, there was an initial\u00a0outcry on the impact Airbnb was beginning to have on the hospitality industry. However, it was quickly realised that all the platform was doing was formalising a practice that had already existed, and upon which the countries, themselves, also depended when hotel rooms are scarce, such as when\u00a0major events\u00a0are\u00a0taking place. Additionally, in these still trying economic times, it is beneficial\u00a0to countries\u00a0for\u00a0their\u00a0citizens to have\u00a0\u2013 and to be able to take advantage of\u00a0\u2013\u00a0income generating\u00a0opportunities, and\u00a0thus\u00a0taking some of the pressure off Government to provide (for them).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

If you can\u2019t beat \u2018em\u2026\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

It was thus a bit of a surprise when early\u00a0cries\u00a0against Airbnb have been replaced by reports of governments signing agreements with the company. Typically,\u00a0and\u00a0on the part of the governments,\u00a0their focus is revenue\u00a0recovery\u00a0through Airbnb:\u00a0to collect the hotel-related taxes that obtain under local law, for properties listed on the platform.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

To be fair, there is precedent for that arrangement. Over 250 jurisdictions worldwide, including Canada, France, India, Italy, Mexico, Switzerland, and the United States, have agreements with Airbnb to collect occupancy taxes on their behalf (Source:\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Airbnb Citizen<\/span><\/span><\/a>). In the region, Antigua and Barbuda, Cura\u00e7ao, the United States Virgin Islands, and now Jamaica, to name a few implemented similar arrangements with the platform.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Disruption\u00a0versus\u00a0bureaucracy\u00a0and longstanding traditions\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

The emergence of a platform, such as Airbnb, caused considerable disruption in the hospitality\u00a0industry, and highlighted the fact that hotels are no longer protected. Typically, establishing\u00a0a\u00a0hotel\u00a0is\u00a0a\u00a0major investment for which cities and countries offer substantial\u00a0inducements, such as tax breaks and credits,\u00a0to increase the attractiveness of their locations for\u00a0those projects.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

However,\u00a0with\u00a0the Internet, and services such as Airbnb,\u00a0that put more power and autonomy in the hands of citizens, traditional power structures (and\u00a0playing fields)\u00a0have been changing. Further, and\u00a0whether we\u00a0fully appreciate it or not, we are operating in a truly global marketplace, where\u00a0geographic\u00a0boundaries have become transparent, and all that matters\u00a0is\u00a0whether there are buyers (regardless of\u00a0their\u00a0location)\u00a0for the products or services being offered. Hence, even in the wilds of Guyana, for example, short-term accommodations can be\u00a0advertised\u00a0on a platform, such as Airbnb, and anyone who is interested, can not only know about such options, but also secure them, if desired.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Having said\u00a0this, governments\u00a0worldwide, and\u00a0especially\u00a0those in the Caribbean, are beginning to\u00a0realise\u00a0that in this\u00a0digital\u00a0age, they\u00a0need to raise their game, that is,\u00a0find more creative ways to do business. In the majority of\u00a0instances, local laws not keeping up with technology, and a change is mindset and\u00a0behaviour\u00a0still lags behind. Luckily, in the case of the hospitality industry and Airbnb, the firm has been amenable to collect and remit occupancy taxes to governments.\u00a0Such\u00a0arrangements\u00a0will\u00a0improve\u00a0not only increase\u00a0revenues but also\u00a0the\u00a0country’s\u00a0collection\u00a0efficiency, especially in the Caribbean\u00a0region, where high rates of\u00a0delinquent\u00a0taxpayers and\u00a0inadequate\u00a0revenue collection systems are the norm\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Image credit: \u00a0Gratisography (Pexels<\/a>)\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

____________\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Several\u00a0Caribbean\u00a0governments have\u00a0entered\u00a0into agreements with Airbnb, primarily to facilitate \u00a0tax collection. Is that a good thing?\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 Over the past several months,\u00a0and for regular readers of our weekly news roundup, there […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":107139,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[11],"tags":[317,71,318,205,204],"class_list":["post-107137","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ict-tech","tag-airbnb","tag-businesses","tag-disruption","tag-entrepreneurship-2","tag-innovation-2","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/hotel-sign-neon-letters-Gratisography-Pexels.jpg?fit=1024%2C682&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2iE1G-rS1","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107137"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=107137"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107137\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":107140,"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107137\/revisions\/107140"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/107139"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=107137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=107137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=107137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}