Tourism Minister Patricia de Lille on August 29 signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with global accommodation platform Airbnb.

The agreement will see South Africa’s Department of Tourism (DoT) work closely with Airbnb to advance tourism services that are aimed at growing tourism in the country and creating more jobs in the sector.

The agreement is expected to support the continued recovery of the tourism sector and to build inclusive tourism in South Africa.

In terms of the MoU, Airbnb will collaborate with the Ministry of Tourism through four avenues.

Firstly, a national database, as per Section 6 of the Tourism Act 2014, will be established for short-term rentals in South Africa to provide transparency into the short-term rental market.

The sharing of information on international best practice regarding short-term rentals, the registration system thereof, and the policy regulations worldwide by Airbnb are expected to help the DoT to develop a position on short-term rentals, based not only on Airbnb input, but input across the industry, to ensure fairness and transparency.

Secondly, Airbnb and the Ministry will collaborate on the Airbnb Entrepreneurship Academy, a skills development programme focused on spreading the benefits of tourism to historically disadvantaged individuals by lowering barriers to entry and providing economic empowerment.

Thirdly, there will be access to an exclusive portal built for governments and tourism organisations that provides locally specific data and mutual sharing of knowledge and insights – a City Portal.

Lastly, the parties will collaborate on the Airbnb Africa Travel Summit, to be held in Johannesburg, on October 23 and 24.

“This MoU seeks to grow the collaboration between government and the private sector as it is our collective responsibility to grow and enhance the tourism sector. As government, if we want to significantly grow tourism and its contribution to the economy and job creation, collaboration with the private sector is vital.

“We are delighted to be the first African Ministry of Tourism to sign a collaborative MoU with a successful global company such as Airbnb,” De Lille says.

“By leveraging Airbnb’s global reach and understanding of the market, this collaboration seeks to create a positive impact on local communities, travellers and the tourism industry as a whole.

“The primary goal of this collaboration is to develop a relationship between the Ministry, its department and entity, and Airbnb, to harness and drive tourism domestically and internationally.

“As shared in the department’s Green Paper, insufficient information is available about the unregulated short-term rental subsector, and this hampers informed policy decision-making.  Access to the Airbnb data can only assist in informing better decisions,” she adds.  

As part of the MoU, the parties will have regular engagements to evaluate opportunities for strategic collaboration on driving inclusive tourism and ensuring fair and proportionate regulation of short-term rentals.

The signing of this MoU is in line with the aims of the Tourism Sector Recovery Plan, which is part of the country’s Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan.

The Tourism Sector Recovery Plan was adopted by Cabinet in March 2021 to facilitate the recovery of the sector to preserve jobs and livelihoods, facilitate new job opportunities, match demand and supply and strengthen transformation.