A Botched, Burdensome Licensing Regime for Short-term Lets in Wales Will Hit Ordinary People the Hardest

Imagine a single parent in Swansea decamping to her parents’ house for two weeks so she can rent out her home and earn extra money during the summer festivals. Or a farmer in the Brecon Beacons letting a shepherd’s hut to hillwalkers for overnight stays, with the money paying for essential repairs.

These are the real faces of Airbnb hosts. They are everyday people, topping up their household budgets and pensions. The typical Airbnb host in Wales shares just one space for 31 nights a year, bringing in around £6,000 annually. Two thirds are women, many are retired or can no longer work, and four out of ten say the money they earn helps them afford to stay in their homes.

Tourism isn’t a “nice to have” for Wales. It’s essential. In 2024 the visitor economy generated £6.8 billion, supporting 164,000 jobs and employing 12% of the workforce. Airbnb plays a key role in that. Last year, guests booked over 1.6 million nights and 490,000 inbound trips to Wales through our platform, spending money in local shops and restaurants, and on experiences and attractions from Cardiff to Conwy.

The Welsh Government’s new Development of Tourism & Regulation of Visitor Accommodation Bill puts all this at risk. Ostensibly, the bill aims to improve safety in short-term lets by introducing a licensing regime. Safety matters, but problems are exceptionally rare. Our data shows that accommodation in Wales has a stronger safety record compared to other parts of the UK and internationally, which already have extremely high standards. The average guest satisfaction rating for a stay in an Airbnb in Wales is 4.9 stars out of 5, one of the highest in the country.

Under the proposals, hosts will have to upload a raft of documents, pay a fee, renew their licence every year, wait for approval and potentially complete a training course to continue operating. Some Members of the Senedd are talking about introducing even more restrictions, such as requiring hosts to obtain permission from their neighbours, or refusing licences on the grounds that there could be issues with parking. All of this is wholly unnecessary, and will act as a powerful disincentive for those who are keen to make an economic and social contribution to Welsh tourism.

A licensing scheme is also redundant because Wales will introduce a separate register of overnight accommodation next year. This registration system will provide important data on the number, type and concentration of short-term lets. It will allow hosts to be signposted to information about their health and safety obligations and attest that they understand them. Data from the register can be used by local authorities when investigating complaints and as part of an intelligence and evidence-led approach to enforcement. All this can be achieved without the bureaucracy that licensing entails.

We can see from other parts of the UK how this legislation is likely to pan out. Scotland introduced licensing for short-term lets in 2023. The result was months of delays as councils struggled to process applications, accommodation providers being forced to close, high costs for hosts, increased prices and reduced choice for consumers, and the growth of an off-platform, unregulated, and less-safe black market.

Let’s not forget the large number of regulatory interventions that have already been forced onto short-term let hosts in Wales in recent years, including collecting and remitting tourism taxes, council tax premiums, changes to business rates thresholds, and potential higher minimum energy efficiency standards. The cost of the time and paperwork involved in all this will undoubtedly be passed on to guests, making Wales a more expensive destination, particularly for families and those on lower incomes.

Our estimate suggests that the steps in this bill could see a reduction in Welsh host income of between £4.5 million and £15 million per annum. Such far-reaching measures should be subject to serious scrutiny, yet the legislation is being rushed through the Senedd ahead of next year’s elections, with only half the time for debate that similar bills would normally receive.

Given these issues, it is obvious that the bill should be withdrawn. The Welsh Government should wait until the accommodation register has been fully implemented, and only consider licensing if there is clear evidence that it is warranted. Any further rules should be subject to robust public consultation, something that hasn’t happened in this instance.

The importance of tourism to ordinary, everyday people in Wales cannot be overstated. The Welsh Government should not gamble so recklessly with their future.