The government will scrap a contentious measure that would have required Airbnb apartment owners to obtain approval from their condominium neighbours before operating, Tourism Minister Ian Borg said.

Rules to ensure neighbourly respect, however, will be introduced and enforced.

In an interview on Times of Malta’s podcast Times Talk to be released on Thursday, Borg said the approval measure was unfair, especially since the government incentivised people to take up this business in the first place.

“The politics of pitting the ‘haves’ against the ‘have-nots’ has never worked in this country and creating measures of this kind will only make it harder to achieve industry standards and gain respect within the community,” he said.

“The government’s own policy urged people to invest all their savings and purchase a second residence. We incentivised them to buy and offer a quality product in the tourism sector. It would be unfair to now force them to deal with the bank loans and what not if they ask for permission and their neighbours object.”

He acknowledged, however, the need to balance tourism growth with residents’ quality of life.

“We cannot allow this accommodation to negatively impact the quality of life of other residents either,” he said. “There will be rules to ensure neighbourly respect, to address noise and waste management, and the government must enforce them.”

Borg was speaking during an 80-minute podcast that will be released this week.

It was his first extensive interview since his appointment as tourism minister last November. He also said in the interview he intended to “clean up” Comino and fielded questions on local politics, his presence at Donald Trump’s inauguration ceremony last month, Palestine and the Middle East, the Ukraine war, Malta’s neutrality and defence and his government’s scandals, among others.

The 38-year-old, who is also deputy prime minister, foreign minister and the Labour Party’s deputy leader, was handed the large tourism portfolio in November after former minister Clayton Bartolo resigned following two scandals involving him and his wife.

The measure

Airbnb owners became concerned around that same time, when Malta Tourism Authority CEO Carlo Micallef told a Times of Malta journalist that new plans were in the works to compel apartment owners to get the go-ahead of their condominium neighbours before renting out their property as an Airbnb.

Landlords without approval would be refused an MTA licence to rent out their property on a short-let basis, he said. The new rules, he explained, are intended to strike the best possible balance between respecting residents and maintaining a strong tourism industry.

Sources close to the government had told Times of Malta the new rules would also require landlords to seek fresh approval from their neighbours every three years and that licences would not be renewed without it.

The government’s decision to tighten regulations came in response to growing complaints from residents about disruption caused by short-term rentals in their apartment blocks.

Issues such as excessive noise, littering and frequent turnover of guests have been cited as major concerns.

Speaking on Times Talk, Borg said: “People who are earning money from these ventures must be more responsible but we cannot force them to obtain approval from their neighbours when we urged them to make this investment in the first place.

“Then again, just because they invested, live elsewhere and are not impacted by their guests’ nuisance, it does not mean they can allow them to return home at 3am or 4am and continue their party in the apartment while a family living next door, who also invested in their apartment, cannot live in peace.”

Borg also sounded a warning to those operating illegally, saying they should immediately regularise their position as Airbnb and other similar platforms are being compelled to share their information with the authorities.

More hotels?

The minister also raised questions about the future of hotel incentives, particularly regarding a planning policy that permits two additional floors to developers who build hotels.

However, he refused to answer his own question, saying he did not want to influence upcoming public consultations. But he indicated he had reservations on the policy’s sustainability.

“Should we continue to incentivise that? We must answer these questions together. We will need increasingly better hotels, and we should raise the standards of the market, but should we be encouraging people to invest in more hotels rather than in other sectors? Those listening to this know what I am implying,” he said.

“We already have many apartments and units on the market, many others that have been approved and are being built. We want growth ‒ God forbid the economy stops growing ‒ but we must manage that growth.

“If we continue along this path, we will be forced to add incentives to airlines to bring even more people.”

During the interview, Borg announced that Pierre Fenech, who has been, somewhat controversially, serving as CEO for both ITS and the Mediterranean Conference Centre (MCC), will now drop the latter duties and take on his ITS role full-time.

The full podcast will be released on Times of Malta, YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts and on social media on Thursday.