Airbnb Inc yesterday protested against the Ministry of Transportation and Communications’ proposed tighter regulations on home-sharing services, but said it hoped to work with the government to craft a policy that would create a win-win situation.
The ministry on March 26 proposed changes to Articles 55 and 55-1 of the Act for the Development of Tourism (發展觀光條例) that would raise the maximum fine from NT$500,000 to NT$2 million (US$16,195 to US$64,779) if hotel operators or home-stay service providers operate without a license or registration certificate.
Under the changes, Airbnb and other Web sites promoting the services of room-leasing operators would face fines of NT$60,000 to NT$2 million, with repeat fines possible.
The ministry’s amendments would hit the operations of Airbnb in Taiwan and its local partners, Singapore-based Airbnb public affairs manager Marvin Ma (馬培治) told the Taipei Times on the sidelines of an event in Taipei.
Airbnb plans to submit a protest to the ministry before the consultation period ends and most of the company’s local partners would also voice their concern, Ma said.
The company would try to open a dialogue with the ministry, Ma added.
“Airbnb is willing to discuss the regulations on home-sharing with the Taiwanese government,” Ma said, adding that they have been successful in 550 regions and cities worldwide, including Japan, Mexico and Denmark.
“Those countries adopted new regulations to cover Airbnb. The rules are different from those that regulate the conventional lodging industry,” Ma said.
Since 2016, Airbnb has faced regulatory challenges in Taiwan, as the ministry has implemented increasingly tougher penalties for those offering rentals on Airbnb, but for the first time the regulator is planning fines that target Airbnb, Ma said.
“It is a pity that Airbnb was excluded from discussions held between ministry officials and the conventional lodging industry on the regulatory changes,” Ma said.
“We did not ask for deregulation, as even this new style of home-sharing needs oversight, but the government should not impose the same regulations on us as on traditional accommodation providers,” he said.
It is difficult for Airbnb partners to obtain hotel licenses in Taiwan, as the rules are cumbersome, he said.
For example, hotels are required have parking lots and access-free facilities, and roads in front of hotels must be wider than 8m, which is not possible for most Airbnb rentals, he added.
Airbnb has seen its business in Taiwan steadily grow, with the number of inbound guests totaling 1.6 million last year, of which 1.05 million were foreign tourists, company data showed.
The global giant had about 11,000 partners and 35,000 listings in Taiwan as of the end of January, the data showed.
The Eurovision Song Contest has seen a surge in punter interest at the bookmakers, becoming a major betting event, experts said ahead of last night’s giant glamfest in Basel. “Eurovision has quietly become one of the biggest betting events of the year,” said Tomi Huttunen, senior manager of the Online Computer Finland (OCS) betting and casino platform. Betting sites have long been used to gauge which way voters might be leaning ahead of the world’s biggest televised live music event. However, bookmakers highlight a huge increase in engagement in recent years — and this year in particular. “We’ve already passed 2023’s total activity and
BIG BUCKS: Chairman Wei is expected to receive NT$34.12 million on a proposed NT$5 cash dividend plan, while the National Development Fund would get NT$8.27 billion Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday announced that its board of directors approved US$15.25 billion in capital appropriations for long-term expansion to meet growing demand. The funds are to be used for installing advanced technology and packaging capacity, expanding mature and specialty technology, and constructing fabs with facility systems, TSMC said in a statement. The board also approved a proposal to distribute a NT$5 cash dividend per share, based on first-quarter earnings per share of NT$13.94, it said. That surpasses the NT$4.50 dividend for the fourth quarter of last year. TSMC has said that while it is eager
‘IMMENSE SWAY’: The top 50 companies, based on market cap, shape everything from technology to consumer trends, advisory firm Visual Capitalist said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) was ranked the 10th-most valuable company globally this year, market information advisory firm Visual Capitalist said. TSMC sat on a market cap of about US$915 billion as of Monday last week, making it the 10th-most valuable company in the world and No. 1 in Asia, the publisher said in its “50 Most Valuable Companies in the World” list. Visual Capitalist described TSMC as the world’s largest dedicated semiconductor foundry operator that rolls out chips for major tech names such as US consumer electronics brand Apple Inc, and artificial intelligence (AI) chip designers Nvidia Corp and Advanced
Pegatron Corp (和碩), an iPhone assembler for Apple Inc, is to spend NT$5.64 billion (US$186.82 million) to acquire HTC Corp’s (宏達電) factories in Taoyuan and invest NT$578.57 million in its India subsidiary to expand manufacturing capacity, after its board approved the plans on Wednesday. The Taoyuan factories would expand production of consumer electronics, and communication and computing devices, while the India investment would boost production of communications devices and possibly automotive electronics later, a Pegatron official told the Taipei Times by telephone yesterday. Pegatron expects to complete the Taoyuan factory transaction in the third quarter, said the official, who declined to be
RSS