By Jason Moore
Local hoteliers have often been accused of destroying bar and and restaurant trade in the main holiday resorts by allowing all inclusive holidays. It was not exactly their fault, because obviously they came under heavy pressure from tour firms, but they can take a share of the blame. And now they are doing their best to destroy the once-lucrative home rental market. Hoteliers believe that they alone should be the source of holiday accommodation. If you rent out your home to tourists then you are hitting their business, they say. This is illegal competition, they complain and they are deeply opposed to any move which effectively legalises the holiday home rental market. Now, perhaps they have a point. Building and running a hotel is not cheap and you don't want the person down the road who rents out his home to tourists eating into your profits. But surely this is a different market. Tourists who want their own home for 10 days are not interested in staying in hotels and one of the reasons why thousands of people purchased holiday homes on the island was because they believed that they could rent out their home and help pay the mortgage. I do believe that the rental market should be legalised and hoteliers are just going to have to face the additional competition. The tourist industry is changing. Holidaymakers want all inclusive holidays but they also want holiday home rentals. Hoteliers can´t have the best of both worlds.