Malaysian Association of Hotels (MAH) chief executive officer Yap Lip Seng said the government was losing tax income from the lack of such regulations.

“Because Airbnb is a business competing with hotel lodging, it should be subjected to the same taxation regime as hotels,” he said.

Noting that the government was hoping to improve tax collection, Yap said tax payments from operators like Airbnb were less than reliable.

He alleged that Airbnb’s model of renting out excess accommodation space had been abused by some who were renting out entire residential units for tourism purposes.

Also, he claimed, the existence of Airbnb was driving up the cost of houses.

“The return on investment from Airbnb makes wealthy individuals purchase properties as an investment and this causes house prices, especially in key cities, to increase,” he said.

Asked how the hotel industry was coping, he said: “The industry requires financial assistance to restart, and to restore competitiveness as well as to rebuild its manpower.

“Tourism is a highly competitive industry and hotels are burdened with high re-investment as well as operating costs.”

According to reports, the Covid-19 pandemic has caused 55 hotels nationwide to close down permanently, 86 hotels to shut temporarily and about 8,000 hotel industry workers to lose their jobs.