PARIS: The coffers of City Hall in Paris have swollen €5.5million since short-term lettings website Airbnb started automatically collecting the tourist tax a year ago, the company has said.
The American-based company, whose online platform allows property owners to rent out accommodation to each other, agreed to collect the taxe de séjour on behalf of its hosts in February 2015. It started collecting the money on October 1 the same year. The money raised will be invested in tourism.
Airbnb started collecting the tax following criticism of ‘unfair competition’ from hoteliers. France is Airbnb’s second largest market after America. In August, the company announced its French hosts had welcomed 10 million visitors. More than 300,000 properties in France are listed on the website, including 70,000 in the Paris area alone.
In the three months to August 2016, there were 3.6 million Airbnb guests in France – an 86% increase on the same three months in 2015, and nearly a quarter of the total 16million Airbnb guests across Europe over the same period.
