Airbnb: Part of the solution or further problem in mass tourism? The international holiday apartment broker Airbnb presents itself with a new study as part of the solution to the problems that mass tourism causes in Europe. Critics have so far seen the company as part of the problem. With Airbnb, visitors would no longer only find their place in the strongly frequented Berlin districts such as Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg or Mitte, but would now also find their place of sleep with authentic travel experience in lesser-known areas such as Marzahn-Hellersdorf, Tempelhof or Neukölln. But how meaningful are the data on the overload of individual districts through mass tourism? Experts warn of generalizations and emphasize the need for a differentiated view.

Airbnb: Part of the solution or further problem in mass tourism? The international holiday apartment broker Airbnb presents itself with a new study as part of the solution to the problems that mass tourism causes in Europe. Critics have so far seen the company as part of the problem. With Airbnb, visitors would no longer only find their place in the strongly frequented Berlin districts such as Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg or Mitte, but would now also find their place of sleep with authentic travel experience in lesser-known areas such as Marzahn-Hellersdorf, Tempelhof or Neukölln. But how meaningful are the data on the overload of individual districts through mass tourism? Experts warn of generalizations and emphasize the need for a differentiated view.

Airbnb as a solution for mass tourism in Berlin?

The international holiday apartment broker Airbnb presents itself with a new study as part of the solution to the problems caused by mass tourism in Europe. Critics have so far seen the company as part of the problem.

With Airbnb, visitors would no longer only be accommodated in the strongly frequented Berlin districts such as Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg or Mitte, but would now also find their sleeping place with "authentic travel experience" in lesser-known areas such as Marzahn-Hellersdorf, Tempelhof or Neukölln.

The meaningfulness of data that should describe the "overtourism" for a specific district can, however, be strongly fluctuated and misunderstood. "Overtourism cannot be diagnosed in a general way," explains planning and city researcher Christoph Sommer, Tagesspiegel columnist (Dr. Summer) and tourism expert at the Leibniz Institute for Spatial Social Research.

There would be measurement methods that depict the "tourism intensity", such as the overnight stays per thousand inhabitants, or the attitude of the population to tourism in a "tourism captaindaldo". But these numbers say little if the room is not distinguished exactly that they should describe, says Sommer.

Airbnb helps landlords to a new source of income

Airbnb particularly emphasizes the economic advantages for hosts. Many would use the platform to generate additional income by renting out their unused rooms. According to Airbnb, this can help to alleviate the financial pressure in expensive cities and to promote economic growth in the municipalities.

the fact is that tourist frequency in Berlin continuously increases. It is doubtful whether the news that Airbnb now also offers holiday apartments in Berlin's less visited corners of Berlin. A study by the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin) showed that the rents increased by an average of 13 cents per square meter due to additional airbnb accommodation. Now the district of Lichtenberg was also praised and listed in the current report by Airbnb as a "new trendy district".

Tax authorities check landlords

House owners who rent apartments via platforms such as Airbnb and FeWo-Direct must apply for this at the district office and tax the income. The tax investigations of the federal states are now researching more consistently on these portals. In 2020, the tax authority of Hamburg received, prepared and placed accommodation data in a placement portal for booking and placement of accommodation and distributed it to the responsible state financing authorities, reports a spokeswoman for the Berlin Senate Department for Finance. Since then, separate records have been led to the multi -taxes related to the evaluation of the data related to the data related to the evaluation of the data; The multi-taxes for Berlin in the area of ​​income and sales tax amounted to around 2.1 million euros (as of June 2023), she says.

The Berlin tax administration basically pursues all information that indicates a tax offense. If there are sufficient indications, it is obliged to intervene in the context of all persecutory crimes in accordance with Section 152 (2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, explains the spokeswoman. As soon as the suspicion of a crime arises, a tax criminal proceedings will be initiated.

"Every short -term apartment is missing as a long -term rental apartment on the housing market, regardless of whether it contributes to alleviating the electricity of mass tourism," says Petra Rohland, spokeswoman for the Senate Department for Urban Development, Building and Living. "You could also say to shift mass tourism with all the negative side effects to the calm, decentralized residential areas."

Airbnb emphasizes the efforts to minimize the effects of mass tourism in his report by “distributing the tourist flows more over new, trendy and less overcrowded districts. This also affects many municipalities and districts without hotels and contributes to at least partial relief from the mass tourist trends that are promoted by hotels.”

Nine percent of Berlin guests book via Airbnb

In a survey by Eurostat and Airbnb in 2021, it shows that Airbnb only identified nine percent of overnight stays in Berlin - 91 percent spent their visit to hotels. Airbnb's message becomes clear in connection.

"We see the challenges that mass tourism in Europe brings and invest in solutions to help," explains Airbnb manager Ellen Madeker. For example, the "flexible search function" on the platform is a technical solution, "the tourist flows more to distribute new, trendy and less overcrowded districts." This would also affect the corners of Berlin without hotels and “at least partially relieved the mass tourist trends that are driven by hotels.” The hotels and the construction of new hotels are the problem, the study suggests. Airbnb attempts to help.

"Before Airbnb stylizes himself as" helper ", the group should prove that he does everything to ensure that providers of apartments pay income tax on the income from rent," says Christoph Sommer.

"Basically, the market of holiday apartments can no longer be turned back. However, it is important that this market is regulated in order to protect the permanent tenants and the housing market in the metropolitan areas," says Lengfelder. "Apartments must be registered and approved - no gray hotel market must be created."

Especially since Hotels do not represent a “competition” for living space in the city, as the Senate Department for Urban Development clarifies. "Hotels, which are largely built in Berlin, are mainly on commercial space," says spokeswoman Petra Rohland. "This applies even more to living space, which should be affordable for people with low incomes."