New regional law on turism: battle against "tourist rentals" and Airbnb

Articolo disponibile anche in: Italian

There are only a few days left, after the definitive okay of the Tuscan regional junta, before the new law on tourism arrives on the council bench.

The media and interested operators in the field are concentrating on the arrangements that regard so-called tourist rentals and the possible consequences that the new laws can have for those involved.

“It couldn’t be any other way,” says Cristina Pagani, president of the Assohotel Confesercenti of Florence. “The new norms contain a series of important innovations for the sector, but surely, the law that introduces the mandatory obligation to declare yourself a business after 3 months of annual rentals is the one that could have the most disruptive effect on Tuscan tourism”.

“We supported it during the meeting with the Region and we repeat,” she continues. “This rule, filling a ruling void of more than 15 years, introduces a limit of the irrational diffusion of ‘affitti turistici’ (tourist rentals) for the first time. It should be defended and upheld at any cost”.

“Not only by the working employees”, she says, “but also by the owners of tourist businesses who, over the years, have regularly paid taxes and benefits, created jobs, collected tourist taxes (for the towns), but also, and above all, by those who, in our cities of art, continue to live and reside”.

The Confesercenti says that you can not continue to continue the “compulsive renting” of buildings, appartments, condominiums, houses and dwellings through Airbnb and other online agencies, without any specific rules to follow, taxes to contribute, businesses to construct”.

“And furthermore”, continues Pagani, “without declaring anything, or presenting an F24, constituting VAT, hiring only under the table. It is a formidable investment without risk, which rewards those who do as they please, while those who follow the rules must quit their work because they are strangled by the high cost of living and poor services”.

“For years,” she concludes, “we have given permission to those living in this “touristic Cayman”, where they reaped great profits without leaving anything to the territory and the community; we finally have the possibility to stop this and reestablish a minimum of equilibrium between profit and residence, catching up with some of the great cities of the world like New York, Berlin and Barcellona. We absolutely can not miss this occasion, for our businesses, but above all, for Florence and Tuscany”.