This report provides the results of research conducted to ascertain resident perceptions of short-term holiday lettings (STHLs), including Airbnb, within the Richmond Valley Council (RVC) of New South Wales (NSW), Australia. The research project follows a systematic scoping study in 2017-18 of international peer-reviewed studies on the implications of Airbnb on local communities (Caldicott, von der Heidt, Scherrer, Muschter, & Canosa, 2019), and a study in 2018 of STHL in the Byron Shire (Che, Muschter, von der Heidt, & Caldicott, 2019). The current project was commenced following receipt of a Seed Funding Grant from the Tourism Research Cluster in Southern Cross University’s School of Business and Tourism (SBAT) with joint-funding from Destination North Coast (DNC).
The objectives of this 2019 project were to extend the scope of the 2018 Byron Shire study to include the other 12 council/local government areas (LGAs) of the Mid North and North Coasts of NSW through:
1. Profiling the nature of STHL, particularly Airbnb, in the 12 communities, i.e. to determine the size, main attributes and development patterns of Airbnb in these areas.
2. Exploring, describing, and critically analysing community perspectives on the perceived impacts of Airbnb within their Shire in order to inform specific and locally appropriate policy solutions.
To address Objective 1, the SBAT research team accessed secondary data from Airbnb and BnbGuard STHL reporting services. To address Objective 2, the team conducted primary research in the form of a survey of residents, including Airbnb hosts and Approved Accommodation Providers (AAP) in each of the 12 council areas. Recognisably, every impact predominantly affects one stakeholder group over another, thereby giving rise to perceived positive, negative, or mixed effects by stakeholder grouping.
Key findings for Richmond Valley Council:
1. The major positive impact of Airbnb as perceived by the majority of respondents was increased revenues for local business. Airbnb hosts also suggested that Airbnb leads to greater variety of retail service and increased local government tax revenues, but this point was not supported by the Other respondents.
2. The major negative impacts perceived by less than half of respondents were: (1) reduced availability of affordable housing for residents; (2) adversely effected on neighbourhood lifestyles; (3) increased waste management problems; and (4) increased noise levels. Airbnb hosts strongly disagreed with all negative impacts.
3. However, the majority of respondents, particularly the Airbnb hosts, agreed with three further impacts, namely that Airbnb generates: (1) a greater variety of accommodation for tourists; (2) increased revenues for Airbnb hosts; and (3) more visitors to the local area. Each impact, thus, has potential to garner a mixed response as illustrated through a positive or negative attribute as raised above.
4. In terms of STHL day limits, most respondents preferred a model which involved mandatory on-site management for any STHL. Around two-thirds (64%) of respondents were supportive of having ‘no restriction’ on rentals of STHL properties with on-site management, which means the host could operate 365 days per year. However, for STHL rentals of permanently non-hosted investment properties, 24% of respondents favoured rentals capped at ‘0 days’ (such rentals not allowed at all). For primary resident properties holiday-let while the permanent resident/owner is away, 41% of the respondents also favoured a cap of ‘less than 90 days per year’ (including 0-days).
5. Most respondents (except Airbnb hosts) felt that STHL needs to be better regulated, particularly in terms of more adequate reporting avenues for complaint lodgement and improved enforcement of non-compliance. Furthermore, around half of respondents (except Airbnb hosts) agreed with the need for greater public information on Airbnb-related issues within the RCV area.