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Controversy in Cuenca for ordinance that regulates diffusion of lodging in digital platforms
Posted On 11 Mar 2019
Ecuadornews:
A municipal ordinance in Cuenca approved last year, which has not yet entered into force, will regulate the accommodation classified as ‘informal’ promoted on digital platforms.
According to data from the Hotel Association of Azuay in 2018, the average occupation in the formal places was 38%.
Ordinance that regulates the cantonal system of tourism in Cuenca is the name of the regulation that in its art. 23 “prohibits the exercise of provision of tourism goods and services in the canton of Cuenca without having the respective annual operating license.”
Otherwise, the ordinance states, “shall be sanctioned in accordance with the provisions of current legislation of the matter”, as supplemented in Article 60.
Although it does not enter into force due to an administrative delay, its dissemination has already generated the claim of some citizens because it would prevent the use of accommodations promoted on platforms such as Airbnb, where houses, apartments and other places are rented for a specific period of time.
For the president of the Chamber of Tourism of Azuay, Patricio Miller, going against a worldwide trend of offering rest sites would be impossible, so he clarified that the main objective is that the places offered on the Internet comply with legal requirements and administrative.
Based on this, Councilwoman Carolina Martinez, president of the Commission of Economic and Tourism Development, said that another reason is the “number of complaints” about homes that do not have adequate security and until they were used as motels.
Evading the payment of taxes and patents “does not allow the development of the formal sector,” he said.
That is why it was also agreed that personnel of the Municipal Foundation of Tourism, Urban Control and Historical Areas will verify if they have all the services and guarantees.
But the reading that Juan Alvarado has, user and host of the hosting advertised on Airbnb, is that the system is not well analyzed by the authorities and guilds. He considered that the only loser is the traveler.
“It tries to block the use in its original form and the user has fewer options to travel or transport in a time when the internet has changed everything,” he said. (I)
