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AFRICA-ECONOMY-TOURISM-PARIS-AIRBNB
Airbnb hits back at Paris ban threat
CAPE TOWN, Sept 13, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Rent-a-room giant Airbnb on Wednesday
accused the Paris official seeking to ban the service in the city of
electioneering and insisted it enjoys widespread support in the French
capital.
The city’s housing chief Ian Brossat said last week he would seek to
outlaw the service in central Paris because operations like were forcing out
residents.
“I know from surveys and polling that we are exceptionally popular in
France at large and in Paris. Maybe not as popular as Mbappe, but we’re
really popular,” Chris Lehane, Airbnb’s head of policy, told AFP, referring
to French striker and PSG star Kylian Mbappe.
“I’ve never been asked to be a political consultant to him (Brossat). But
taking on an issue where 20 percent of the people support you and 80 percent
of the people oppose you is not a winning political hand.”
Brossat, who is expected to head up the French Communist party list for
European Parliament elections next year, has said he wants to stop the City
of Lights becoming an “open-air museum”.
He responded to Lehane’s comments on Wednesday, telling AFP that “all we
ask is for the company to respect French law”.
“Why does Airbnb refuse to enforce the law that obliges the platform to
remove illegal advertisements? Why does Airbnb pay as much tax in France as a
neighbourhood bakery?” Brossat asked.
Paris is Airbnb’s single biggest market with 60,000 apartments on offer
but the service has, along with its competitors, faced accusations of pushing
up rents and diluting communities.
Brossat has a history of criticising Airbnb and recently published a book
called “Airbnb, the Uberised City”.
The councillor will seek to have his measure included in a new property
law due to be debated later this year.
Paris already requires homeowners to register with authorities and limits
rentals to 120 nights a year.
“If you look over the last two years we’ve done over 500 government
partnerships around the world. We have a regulatory framework that exists in
Paris,” said Lehane, who spoke at an African tourism conference organised by
Airbnb in Cape Town.
The theme of the two-day conference, which drew delegates from across
Africa, was tourism and economic empowerment.
BSS/AFP/HR/1015