[Edaily Kang Gyeong-rok Travel Correspondent] The European Union (EU) has introduced region-specific regulatory measures to address the housing crisis caused by short-term residential rentals, such as those offered by Airbnb. Rather than imposing a blanket ban, the aim is to assess the impact on the housing market using objective indicators and target only those areas where intervention is necessary. Observers note that this holds significant implications for South Korea, which faces the dual challenges of expanding accommodation facilities and protecting the right to housing amid a surge in foreign tourists visiting the country.
According to foreign media and industry sources on the 11th, the European Commission recently announced a proposal and recommendations for the “Affordable Housing Act.” The core of the plan is to identify regions with severe housing shortages based on housing prices, income levels, and supply-demand imbalances, and then establish EU-wide legal standards that allow national and local governments to restrict short-term rental operations.
The EU’s measures are closely tied to the explosive growth of the short-term rental market. According to the European Commission, short-term rentals via online platforms surged by approximately 93% between 2018 and 2024. In some popular tourist destinations, about 20% of all housing units have been converted to short-term rentals, leading to the disappearance of long-term rental housing and resulting in soaring home prices and rents.

However, recognizing the positive economic impact of short-term rentals, the EU opted for the “principle of proportionality” rather than a blanket ban. The approach aims to preserve the benefits—such as expanding options for travelers and providing additional income for landlords—while strictly regulating areas where the living environment is being undermined by commercial operations conducted by professional operators. Furthermore, the policy explicitly addresses the regulatory imbalance regarding safety, liability, and consumer protection—issues that the traditional hotel industry has long raised.
This controversy is closely linked to the situation in South Korea’s lodging market. In major tourist cities such as Seoul, “foreign tourist city homestays”—which utilize private residences—have established themselves as a core part of the lodging infrastructure in response to the increase in foreign tourists. Among the lodging facilities in Seoul that the Seoul Metropolitan Government conducted emergency inspections on earlier this year, 4,904 were classified as foreign tourist city homestays.
As the sector has grown rapidly, its negative effects have become evident. The number of cases involving illegal lodging businesses investigated by the Seoul Metropolitan Government’s Civil Affairs and Judicial Police Bureau rose from 17 in 2022 to over 100 in both 2023 and 2024. This is due to the rampant practice of unregistered operators disguising officetels or goshiwons as lodging facilities.
In response, the Seoul Metropolitan Government has launched a comprehensive inspection of 7,958 lodging facilities in the city this year. It is tightening safety regulations by providing guidance on reinforcing fire safety facilities and recommending mandatory enrollment in disaster liability insurance. In particular, the city has incorporated “efforts to prevent inconvenience to nearby residents” into the evaluation criteria for its “Seoul Stay” certification program, thereby promoting harmonious coexistence with local communities.
Global platforms are also accelerating their self-regulatory efforts. Since last October, Airbnb Korea has required all hosts—including those with existing listings—to submit business registration certificates, and it has completely blocked reservations for unregistered listings, focusing on protecting legitimate hosts operating within the regulatory framework.
Experts unanimously agree that, to ensure a soft landing for the domestic shared lodging market, the issues of supply expansion and regulation should not be approached in a binary manner. The traditional lodging industry argues, “Since we provide the same lodging services, there must be equity in basic standards such as safety, hygiene, and fire safety.” In contrast, the shared lodging industry counters, “We must distinguish between strengthening the institutional foundation to ensure legal hosts can operate stably and weeding out unregistered, illegal accommodations.”
Jeong Gwang-min, a research fellow at the Korea Culture and Tourism Research Institute, advised, “While increasing the variety of lodging options to accommodate the rapidly growing number of foreign tourists is an unavoidable task, given the nature of using residential housing, we must carefully consider safeguarding residents’ living environments, compliance with safety standards, and regulatory equity with existing lodging businesses.” He added, “Based on objective data regarding the current state of the lodging industry, there is an urgent need for a sophisticated regulatory framework that encourages legal operations while strictly managing areas where problems arise.”