Airbnb, a world-wide online marketplace and hospitality service, enabling property owners to lease or rent their houses or rooms to visitors, is to update the people of Anguilla with the requisite information at a planned workshop.
Parliamentary Secretary, Tourism, Mr. Cardigan Connor, who recently attended the Caribbean Tourism Organisation conference in New York, and obtained information about the workshop, said it would take place on a date to be announced later.
“I think the Airbnb workshop is perfect for us as an island and even as a Government,” Connor commented. “It will talk about the safety of the guests that come to Anguilla. In the past, it was believed that the majority of the guests would go to the hotels where there is security and the grounds are kept clean.
“Now, more and more people will come to Anguilla and stay in Airbnb’s accommodations so it is the responsibility of the hosts to make sure that their surroundings are safe and clean. I think ultimately, as an island, we will benefit from that as many of the hosts having been employees in the tourist industry for years, are now entrepreneurs in that industry.
“If you can make ten thousand dollars a year now from an apartment, or from a room in your house that you didn’t make before, it makes you part of gaining benefits from the tourism industry. But what is important is that you also have a responsibility, and I think this is one of the things that the Airbnb representatives made clear that you have a responsibility to protect the guests that are coming to your island – and also to ensure that the service is of the highest quality. It doesn’t matter how much money you spend on a room, it is the service you offer. If we can maintain that collectively, our tourism industry would have the highest rate in the Caribbean. Ultimately, that is our objective because as I have said, and continue to say, although we talk about one Caribbean we are competing within that one Caribbean. If we say we are proud of Anguilla, we need not just to say it, but show it.”
Mr. Connor was of the view that the workshop would probably be held in August or September. “Government is continuing to work out further details with Airbnb because it is a tripartite relationship,” he added. “It is Government, Airbnb – but, most importantly, it is the people of Anguilla who have to be the real stakeholders in all of this.”
