An attempt to introducing statutory licensing for Airbnbs and some other tourist accommodation has got a frosty reception.

The Welsh Government – as part of its governing deal between Labour and the Welsh nationalist party Plaid Cymru – has been formally consulting on its proposals to include all short-lets, holiday homes, hotels and bed-and-breakfasts licenced under one scheme which would ensure similar regulation, building safety and management standards.

But the government’s proposal has been sharply criticised in the consultation results.

The consultation consisted of 64 questions and received 1,595 responses in total, including councils, visitor accommodation providers, tourism representative bodies and residents of Wales. 

The government’s statement on the consultation results says: “Several recurring themes were regularly reflected across multiple consultation questions. The most common overarching themes were:

“- the view that the proposed statutory licensing scheme would create significant administrative and financial burden.

“- the suggestion that the visitor accommodation market is highly competitive and thus already operates efficiently.

“- general disagreement with any form of statutory licensing, without offering any further explanations for this view.“

It says that across most questions, the degree of agreement or disagreement was consistently split between demographics. 

Large tourism organisations and local authorities were more likely to agree with the proposals, while visitor accommodation providers and residents most often disagreed.

Some 74 per cent of respondents preferred a scaled fee as opposed to an identical fee for all accommodation, typically based on size; and 61 per cent disagreed that such a scheme would ensure a level playing field for accommodation providers in Wales, because of the difference in size and turnover of different providers.

Perhaps most damning of all for the Welsh Government proposals is the statement in the consultation results that “most respondents offering evidence from other countries and similar schemes identified adverse effects on the tourism sector and the overall economy.”