Hungary’s government is considering a plan to impose a moratorium on new Airbnb licenses in Budapest and to raise taxes on short-term apartment rentals in the capital city, according to Economy Minister Marton Nagy. This announcement comes about a month after residents of Budapest’s sixth district voted to ban short-term rentals starting in 2026, marking the first such ban in one of Europe’s most popular tourist destinations. Some residents in European tourist hotspots blame short-term rentals for driving up home prices.
In central Europe, Budapest was the most popular city for short-term stays in 2023, with 6.7 million guest nights, according to Eurostat, ahead of Vienna, Prague, and Warsaw. Eurostat figures show almost 719 million guest nights spent in the European Union were booked via online platforms like Airbnb and Booking last year, with Paris leading EU capitals with over 19 million guest nights.
Nagy stated, “We are thinking about a possible moratorium and a tax hike in Budapest,” adding that the government had not made a decision yet. He emphasized that “the Airbnb market will change, and it is sure that it cannot grow further,” calling the issue a question of housing policy.
Nagy also mentioned that the government is negotiating the proposed new rules with trade organizations in the tourism industry and that changes would not affect short-term rental properties outside the capital. In Budapest’s sixth district, 54% of voters backed the ban on short-term rentals, with a 20.52% turnout in mid-September.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has submitted an official request for a pardon to President Isaac Herzog, the president’s office said o...
More than 600 people have died and over 4 million have been affected after a rare tropical storm brought a week of heavy rain, floods and landslides t...
The president of Kyrgyzstan, Sadyr Japarov, cast his vote on Sunday as the country held snap parliamentary elections....
Pope Leo travels to Lebanon on Sunday to deliver an appeal for peace in a country repeatedly struck by Israeli air raids, completing the second and fi...
Four people have been killed and 14 injured after shots were fired at a child’s birthday party in Stockton, California. Police say the attack may ha...
Russian President Vladimir Putin received Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban in Moscow, on Friday. The two leaders held detailed talks on Russian oil and gas supplies.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said he would meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Friday to discuss crude and gas supplies for Hungary and also peace efforts in Ukraine.
A new platform uniting Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO) from the Member Countries of the Organization of Turkic States (OTS) was launched in Nakhchivan, Azerbaijan, on Tuesday, with MP Azer Allahveranov elected as its chairman.
The 27th plenary meeting of the Conference of the Special Service Agencies of the Turkic States on the theme 'The Role of Special Service Agencies in Ensuring the Security of International Transport Lines' was held in Khankendi city on 14 November.
U.S. investigators have recovered the black box recorders from the wreckage of a UPS cargo plane that crashed in flames on takeoff in Louisville, Kentucky. At least twelve people died. The crash sent a wall of fire into an industrial corridor and forced the shutdown of the airport.
The Spanish agricultural sector has been placed on high alert following the confirmation that African Swine Fever (ASF) has resurfaced in the country for the first time in over thirty years.
The global recall of Airbus A320 aircraft has triggered widespread disruption across several major airlines, forcing flight cancellations in the United States, Japan, Australia and New Zealand.
Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem said on Friday that the group retains the right to respond to Israel’s killing of its top military commander, leaving open the possibility of a new conflict with the country.
Kazakhstan has called on Ukraine to stop striking the Black Sea terminal of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) after a major drone attack forced a halt to exports and caused serious damage to loading equipment.
China’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism has issued a formal advisory urging Chinese tourists to refrain from travelling to Japan in the near future, citing growing safety risks and recent political tensions.
Brussels airport, Belgium's busiest, reopened on Wednesday morning after drone sightings during the previous night had resulted in it being temporarily closed, although some flights remained disrupted, its website said.
A Japanese travel agency announced plans to offer point-to-point space travel by the 2030s, promising trips between Tokyo and U.S. cities like New York in just 60 minutes.
China's national railway recorded 23.13 million trips on the first day of the country's eight-day National Day holiday on Wednesday, up nearly 8% from a year earlier and setting a single-day record, state media CCTV reported.
Qantas Airways said a fire alert that triggered the pilot of a flight from Sydney to make a mayday call before landing safely at Auckland airport on Friday was likely a false alarm.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment