SANTO DOMINGO - The agreement to regulate Airbnb's operations in the Dominican Republic, the world's most popular short-term rental platform, could be signed in the coming weeks, according to David Collado, Minister of Tourism.
"I can't give you a specific date, but we will sign in less than 30 days," the official told Diario Libre , specifying that the agreement with the Ministry of Tourism includes conditions for the company to formalize its operations in the Dominican Republic.
In the area of taxation, the General Directorate of Internal Taxes (DGII) reported that the draft regulation that governs the procedure for the application of the Transfer Tax on Industrialized Goods and Services (ITBIS) is now in the hands of the Executive Branch.
"I must say that, in both cases (regularization and regulation), Airbnb has come and wants to regularize itself and be legally present in the Dominican Republic," Collado stated .
Although the Ministry of Tourism has stated that there is a good disposition, both on the part of the company and the institution, to finalize an agreement, the truth is that it has been an issue that has been pending since last year.
In August 2022, Collado had informed this media outlet that the regularization would begin that month, evaluating the first measures to regulate any negotiation involving the short rental of houses, apartments, cabins or other spaces suitable for vacation accommodation.
Then, at the International Tourism (Fitur 2023), the minister took advantage of the event and announced the signing of a letter of intent, but the final agreement is still pending.
This has also happened with the regulations for applying the ITBIS (Value Added Tax) to companies of this nature. Although the DGII (General Directorate of Internal Revenue) does not know when the Executive Branch might approve the regulations (which could generate up to 3 billion pesos in revenue), the details of the regulations were released on February 15 of last year.
Room Check-in
Regarding the number of rooms that the platform registers in the Dominican Republic, David Collado explained that the company gave him a report, in which they report some 93,000 rooms that provide this service in the country.
Most are located in places where, comparatively, there are few hotel rooms, such as Puerto Plata, Santiago, and Santo Domingo.
Some changes made to the original text from Diario Libre.
