
Citizens who rent out apartments for short periods (through Airbnb or Booking) will be required to obtain a unique registration code before publishing any advertisements online. The measure is part of a new draft law on tourism that the government has put out for public consultation.
According to the draft, mandatory registration of apartments, villas or rooms will be carried out through the unique government portal e-Albania.
"Accommodation units for short-term stays are registered, before starting their activity, through the unique government portal e-Albania and are provided with a unique registration code," the draft law states.
Once this procedure is completed, the system will generate a unique registration code, which must be displayed in every offer, advertisement or publication on electronic mediation and reservation platforms.
In addition, owners will be required to conduct electronic registration of customers and report monthly statistical data such as the number of visitors, nights of stay, their citizenship and age.
Sanctions for those who do not register
According to the draft law, citizens who rent out short-term properties without registering and obtaining the relevant categorization certificate will face fines. These fines range from 20 to 50 thousand lek for those with 1 to 5 rooms, and 100 thousand lek for those with 6 to 15 rooms.
On the other hand, a fine of up to 100 thousand lek will also be imposed for failure to declare statistical data, that is, if customer data (number of visitors, nights of stay, citizenship, age, etc.) is not reported electronically every month.
If the same administrative violation is repeated within a 12-month period, the fine may be up to twice the maximum limit provided.
All these fines are imposed by the responsible tourism inspection structure and the revenues go 100% to the State Budget. /kapitali.al