A proposed regulation requiring licensing and regulation of airbnb or short-term rental (STR) lodging by the Jamaica Vacationer Board (JTB) has stalled in Parliament, following the suspension of debate final week.
The invoice, which has drawn each help and sharp criticism, would require STR operators to register and procure a license from the JTB—or face fines of as much as $2 million, a 12 months in jail, or each.
Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett, who launched the invoice, has defended it as a vital step to modernise Jamaica’s tourism sector. “Whereas the JTB has performed a significant position in advertising vacation spot and supporting sector progress, its present legislative mandate doesn’t present a transparent or complete foundation for regulating the total vary of tourism enterprises now working in Jamaica,” Bartlett mentioned.
The laws seeks to supply a transparent framework for regulating numerous sectors of the trade, together with vacationer lodging, points of interest, and water sports activities. “The invoice seeks to create a brand new and trendy framework for vacationer lodging, vacationer attraction and water sports activities, amongst different areas,” Bartlett added. He mentioned the up to date regulation would introduce a registration course of as a primary step towards licensing.
The Tourism Ministry later clarified that whereas homestays with 1–9 rooms and residences in buildings the place short-term leases are prohibited by strata guidelines should register, they might not be required to undergo the total licensing course of.
Nonetheless, Opposition Chief Mark Golding raised considerations over the dimensions of the fines and the legal penalties outlined within the laws. Describing Clause 17 of the invoice because the “sword of Damocles,” Golding mentioned it “imposes each fines and legal sanctions on individuals who function vacationer lodging, to incorporate Airbnb-type operations, with out being registered or licensed with the JTB.”
He identified that underneath the proposed regulation, if a tourism lodging reminiscent of an Airbnb with 1 to 50 rooms will not be licensed or registered, courts could impose a effective not exceeding $1 million or as much as 12 months in jail—or each. For lodging with 51 to 100 rooms, the effective will increase to $2 million with an identical jail time period.
“They’ve singled out that class which is being handled in a different way to home tour providers, floor transportation providers, together with contract carriage and motorcar rental and vacationer points of interest,” Golding added. He additionally questioned whether or not operators within the Airbnb sector had been correctly consulted.
Bartlett pushed again, saying consultations had been “heavy and robust” with Airbnb’s structured management in Jamaica. “So, no matter determination that I make right now in relation to the continuation of this explicit debate, [it] has nothing to do with the misguided positions being posited with reference to the Airbnb sub-sector,” he mentioned.
Bartlett famous {that a} third of tourists to the island keep in airbnbs. Jamaica presently has greater than 10,000 lively airbnb listings, most of that are managed by locals working one or two properties. In 2023, native airbnbs generated close to USD $200 million.
With Parliament now on its summer time break and basic elections anticipated quickly, the invoice will fall off the order paper until reintroduced in a brand new legislative session.
