The Squamish Chamber of Commerce is warning the district about the significant negative impact its short-term rental policy will have on the tourism economy of Squamish.
Such a bylaw would decrease visitors between 14,000 and 21,000 and decrease visitor spending anywhere from $6 million to $9 million and impact 50 to 70 jobs, the chamber warns in a letter its executive director recently wrote to the district.
With only Councillor Chris Pettingill opposed, District of Squamish council recently voted to approve the most restrictive option—Option C—to move forward for a draft bylaw.
Option C would restrict short-term rentals to the primary residence of the home owner. Basement or coach homes won’t be eligible for short-term rentals. These would be illegal. The district even plans to hire a bylaw officer for short-term rentals.
As many as 250 rental units would be affected by Option C.
“The data suggests that the negative impact on the economy will be more significant than the potential positive impact on long-term rentals,” wrote Louise Walker, the executive director of the chamber, in the letter to district.
Walker says Tourism Squamish data suggests that in 2018, more than 1 in 10 overnight visitors stayed in short-term rentals, spending $18.2 million in Squamish.
Squamish does not have significant hotel rooms for overnight visitors, and some visitors may be specifically seeking short-term rentals that allow them a different experience, she adds.
“It is counterintuitive to identify the tourism sector as core and enabling, and have data to demonstrate the strong value of STR visitors to the Squamish economy, yet introduce regulation that creates a barrier to growth,” Walker says.
She also says the district might have overestimated the number of units that would revert to long-term rentals.
Walker says the chamber does support some form of regulation, but not the most restrictive option.
“Regulatory Option C is too restrictive, creating red tape that restricts the growth of the tourism industry, and the many affiliated businesses, ultimately placing jobs at risk,” she says.
The chamber is asking the district to take a second look at other regulatory options.
Matthew Trotter says
Actually the impact is greater. The Chamber is basing their information on the numbers from the District Staff, but they aren’t considering the nights per host versus total units. When you adjust for the nights the numbers paint a much more stark picture: Units rented for 60+ days (141 units of the total 500+) are responsible for 87% of the total STR impact:
~$5,000,000 in Employment income
110 Jobs
~$7,000,000 in Squamish GDP
~11,000,000 in Provincial GDP
Providing accommodations to ~35980 guests
~$15,700,000 in direct tourism spend
Matt C says
Yea I remember that time my friends and I rented an AirBnB and spent $175,000 at Sunny Chibas and Backcountry Brewing each night over the weekend, add in a few gondola tickets and it probably benefited the community somewhere near the GDP of Uzbekistan.