Today the European rental market of holiday homes represents more than 20 million beds for rent and 20 billion euros a year in revenue and is still growing according to a PhoCusWright study.
Approximately one in four European travellers has stayed in a rented holiday home over the past year. But the holiday home sector is fragmented which gives all the political voice to other parts of the tourism sector. To secure a balanced discussion in the tourism debate, the big holiday home rental companies in Europe have founded a new association this week called European Holiday Home Association (EHHA).
Most tourists want to have a vacation in a place near the sea or in the city centre but there is not enough capacity if existing houses and apartments are not used. Today the European rental market of holiday homes represents more than 20 million beds for rent and 20 billion euros a year in revenue and is still growing according to a PhoCusWright study. 42 million European adults have stayed in a rented holiday home the
past two years.
“We have two problems in the holiday home sector. First, the Holiday home sector doesn/t have a strong voice in the tourism debate, which is wrong because many parts of Europe have more holiday home beds than any other kind of accommodation type. Second, the holiday home sector is extremely fragmented and immature with a myriad of small players that doesn’t speak together,” says Carlos Villaro Lassen, who was appointed general secretary of the new association, EHHA.
People want the freedom and privacy that comes from having their own rented house on vacation. At the same time, house owners need the freedom to rent their houses to tourists, but in many countries and cities there are restrictions and even bans. “The politicians can create thousands of jobs from tourism in holiday homes if they make it easy to rent a house for vacation,” adds Villaro Lassen. The association is increasingly
concerned with matters such as energy costs, city rental restrictions, consumer protection laws and taxation of house owners.
The founding holiday home rental companies are the biggest players in some of the European countries including Interhome, Novasol, Hoseasons and DanCenter and represent more than 100.000 private homes for rent in more than 30 European countries. All European companies and national associations are invited to join the association.
Package Travel Directive – a welcome opportunity to modernise regulation
EHHA welcomes the proposal from the European Commission to revise the Package Travel Directive as an opportunity to modernise regulation of the tourism sector. Carlos Villaro Lassen, Secretary General says: “The current Directive is in need of updating to reflect that the internet is now a major distribution channel for most tourism businesses. The revision also represents an opportunity to redefine what a package is so that the new law can be a tool to drive growth in the sector in these troubled economic times.”
Since the introduction of the original directive in the early 1990’s, the holiday home sector has grown hugely and is now a key component of many local, rural economies. The current definition of a package means that holiday home owners are dissuaded from working with other local providers of tourism services, such as restaurants and golf clubs, to provide, for example, a stay in a villa with some golf pre-arranged at a nearby gold club, as this would be a package and such small businesses do not want to take on the responsibilities of being a package organiser.
The EHHA believes that the Commission should therefore give serious consideration to amending the definition of a package by, for example, either removing “other services” from the definition of a package or making transport a mandatory part of any package as suggested by the hotel and restaurants association.
This would allow holiday home owners to work with other local tourism businesses to the benefit of consumers and the local economy. The EHHA is therefore committed to working with the European institutions and other stakeholders during the legislative process to ensure that the Directive when adopted strikes the right balance between protecting consumers and driving business growth.
Tatiana is the news coordinator for TravelDailyNews Media Network (traveldailynews.gr, traveldailynews.com and traveldailynews.asia). Her role includes monitoring the hundreds of news sources of TravelDailyNews Media Network and skimming the most important according to our strategy.
She holds a Bachelor's degree in Communication & Mass Media from Panteion University of Political & Social Studies of Athens and she has been editor and editor-in-chief in various economic magazines and newspapers.
