It was reported that in the draft Concept of developing the tourism sector of Uzbekistan until 2025, it is proposed to simplify the procedure for placing tourists in private apartments.
The State Committee for the Development of Tourism developed the document and proposed to allow concluding a contract for short-term rental housing in electronic form using a specialized system. It will also allow you to pay taxes.
At the same time, an owner of the premises, who hands over an apartment for more than 60 days a year, must be registered as a business entity.
The new order was expected to enter into force on January 1 of this year. However, the document has not been adopted.
According to the acting head of the State Committee on Tourism Methodology Aziz Fayozov, the document is expected to be adopted in February and will come into effect on March 1.
He also said at a press conference on the results of the committee’s activities in 2018 that the restriction on leasing apartments up to 60 days a year raised many questions. According to him, while making this proposal, developers of the document relied on international experience, in particular, on European countries.
“Now Airbnb has been refused in Europe. It has become difficult for locals to rent housing, because it is occupied by tourists. As you know, most of the Europeans live in rented apartments. In addition, this leads to an increase in the rental cost. Therefore, European countries are reducing the rental period to 30 days,” the representative of the committee said.
He also stated that the Committee have studied the proposals and comments related to this restriction, and decided to increase the maximum period up to 120 days per year.
“We don’t have to do everything for tourists. At the same time, we should not forget the interests of local residents. You all know that tourists pay more. They can rent an apartment for a week and pay $200-300. So, landlords receive 4 times more income in a month. This could lead to increase of prices for local residents,” Mr. Fayozov said.
