Short-term holiday lets boom in Europe to rise above pre-pandemic levels

Under new legislation proposed by the Government late last year, a new short-term tourist letting register will be created which will see anyone offering accommodation for periods up to and including 21 nights needing to be registered with Fáilte Ireland. File picture

There were more than four million guest nights in short-term rental accommodation, such as Airbnb, in the first nine months of last year. 

Bookings for short-term home rentals across Europe, away from traditional hotels and other forms of accommodation, are experiencing a post-pandemic boom, according to the European data collection agency, Eurostat. In the third quarter of 2022, the traditional holiday months of July and August, bookings were up by 25% compared to 2021, and up 9% on the pre-pandemic period of 2019.