Member for Western Victoria, Joe McCracken, has called a new 7.5 per cent levy on short-stay accommodation platforms a ‘tourism tax’.
The Government says income from the tax on providers, including Airbnb and Stayz, will go towards Homes Victoria, funding social and affordable housing construction.
25 per cent of the money raised from the levy will be spent in the regions.
Mr. McCracken says with COVID and the Commonwealth Games cancellation, this is the next hit Ballarat has copped from Melbourne.
“We’ve got a lot of accommodation providers that do use platforms such as Airbnb that are now going to be penalized, and what’s that going to mean for our tourism sector in Ballarat?”
“They’ve already been hurt fairly significantly over the last few years [and] this is just another thing that adds to their burden, and I don’t think it’s fair to do that,” he said.
However, Member for Eureka, Michaela Settle, says a new levy on short stay accommodation platforms will make a big difference in the region.
“I was just messing around yesterday and there’s over 1,000 places on Airbnb in Ballarat and 200 on Realestate.com to rent,” she said.
“We really need to change that.”
