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Editorial comment
25•02•19 Welcome to the latest Short Term Rentalz weekly newsletter!
• A story in the UK's Telegraph newspaper caught the eye this week when allegations emerged that foreign investors are buying up whole sections of neighbourhoods in Athens and evicting local residents to make way for short-term rentals.
European Union officials are now concerned so-called "golden visa" schemes are giving criminals the opportunity to launder money from their illicit businesses and hide their money in the EU.
The Telegraph reported the visa programme is leading to "mass evictions, with renters removed from their homes to make way for Airbnb properties". It added many of the homes in Athens were being bought by "Chinese investors" with the scheme being actively promoted by the Greek government.
Recently, Greek hoteliers have reacted furiously to the proliferation of short-term rentals in the country, which continues to attract record tourist numbers.
Airbnb has since responded by claiming that "golden visas have in the last five years rejuvenated the real estate market in Greece and the government is now planning to expand the programme".
It follows the news that Greece's Independent Public Revenue Authority is introducing a measure to regulate the short-term leasing of properties, by applying a stamp duty on Airbnb platform users.
On another note, our latest interview with Guesty COO Vered Raviv Schwarz at Travel Technology Europe in London highlighted the opportunities arising in the short-term rental market, in light of the company's announcement that it was direct integrating with TripAdvisor.
If you have a story you want us to tell the industry, please click here.
Paul Stevens, reporter
paul@internationalhospitality.media
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International Hospitality Media is the premier specialist in online publishing; conference, exhibition and events, and advisory services for niche growth sectors of the hospitality industry. The company publishes three industry-leading b2b websites - BoutiqueHotelNews.com and ServicedApartmentNews.com and ShortTermRentalz.com which keep their respective sectors up to speed with news, comment and opinion.
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