Article of "Today's Sunday"
The amendment of the legislation on hotels and tourist accommodation has again brought to the fore the great issue of existence and, therefore, the legitimacy of self-service accommodation by the Government. Undoubtedly, from the first days of the establishment of the Ministry of Tourism, the organization of tourist accommodation and, more specifically, of the thousands of residential units, which were "marketed" as accommodation and hospitality, but did not meet the basic criteria set by the Ministry of Tourism. the existing legislation, with the Government and the tax authorities unable to locate and control these areas.
With the draft law, which was approved by the House of Representatives on January 17 last year and published in the Official Gazette of the Republic on February 7, as for the Regulation on the Establishment and Operation of Hotels and Tourist Accommodation, 2020 of the Tourist Accommodation (amended) It will now put an end to the chaos that prevailed with undeclared houses and apartments that functioned as accommodation areas and in some cases there were complaints about the advertising of fake accommodation for rent by experts, while at the same time, this tidiness will result in a better control of the specific accommodation offered, in which it is enough to consider that in 2019 alone, approximately 400 thousand visitors stayed.
Categorization
According to the law, self-catering accommodation must have the characteristics and specifications of an individual residence or individual tourist mansion or individual apartment and fall into one of three categories, namely a tourist furnished mansion, which is privately owned, independent and external. and to present the independence of the plot and building and to belong exclusively to the landscaped garden, tourist furnished house, which can be in order or in a complex of detached houses and have the independence of operation, private, shared or public outdoor access and privacy and apartment, which can be appropriately and comfortably occupied and reaped as a complete separate and independent unit, as defined in the provisions of the Immovable Property Law.
Creating a Register
For better control purposes, the new legislation provides for the creation of a register of self-service accommodation, in which the owner is obliged to include the property, so that he can advertise it or rent it.
For the registration of the self-catering accommodation, the owner must submit to the Ministry of Tourism a responsible statement that the necessary conditions of the law are met, such as registration with the Tax Department, insurance coverage at least in every detail and especially including fire and liability and civil liability. of the property. Also, together with the responsible statement, he must submit a building permit or urban planning permit, EAC account and in case of a natural person, identity data.
Subsequently, the Ministry of Tourism issues a Special Operation Signal and Registration Number, which become mandatory for posting accommodation from 1 January 2022 onwards. Also, the Undersecretary of State has the ability to carry out ex-officio inspections of the accommodation to verify the existence of the registration permit in the register, while, at the same time, for the purposes of registering the self-service accommodation in the register of the Ministry of Tourism, an online platform will be created. have the ability to register the accommodation and secure the special operating signal.
Owners welcome the new legislation
In statements to Sunday's Today, three directors of self-catering companies operating in the province of Famagusta, in an area hit hardest by the crisis since the pandemic this year, welcomed the new amendment to the law, saying These mandatory changes will bring order to the rental area of individual and organized accommodation.
The Director of the company "My Exclusive Villas", which operates with 100 accommodations mainly in the province of Famagusta but also in Larnaca and Paphos, said that the company has always complied with all the provisions of the relevant legislation and was formal with all tax obligations and that this legislation will finally bring better control to hospitality sector, which will be upgraded even more.
Ο Thanasis Athanassiou, Chief Executive Officer Imagine Villa Rentals, which has about two hundred accommodations in Protaras and Ayia Napa, stressed that the sector in which they operate is finally legalized and in fact many benefits are provided in the field of hospitality in self-catering accommodation, such as security, hygiene and registry. Tourism. He also stressed the ever-increasing trend of self-catering accommodation, which, as he said, now accounts for 35% of global tourism and has ever-increasing trends, and our country has managed to accept and impose controls on this new trend. On the other hand, he assured that a self-catering accommodation cannot compete with a hotel unit, but on the other hand, these are two completely different areas, with the result that the legalization of accommodation creates additional options for foreign and local visitors and therefore greater tourism. movement.
Ο Marios Florentzou, Director at "Villas 2 Let", with one hundred and twenty houses and thirty apartments in the greater area of Famagusta, stressed that the sector of self-catering accommodation welcomes the amendment to the legislation and that this decision will contribute to the upgrade and enrichment of the hospitality sector.
Optimism for reservations
Regarding the changes brought about by the pandemic this year COVID-19, the three representatives of the self-catering accommodation companies stated that there is a reduction in bookings by 80% for the months June-August. Nevertheless, as they reported, most of them were reprogrammed for the next year, with coupons offered either by themselves or other international rental platforms. Great, they stressed, is the interest that exists from our compatriots, and for this reason they themselves moved with offers and discounts both in price and in the required days of stay, since most Cypriots choose three-day or two-day holidays. On the other hand, they pointed out the fact that many of our compatriots chose to rent long-term, for two or three months houses for large groups, provided that this year they would not travel abroad, while calling on the public to make early reservations and does not stay at the last minute to make it easier to find available accommodation.
Source: Today's Sunday (21/6/2020) / Marinos Pavlikkas