Sharing economy Archivi | Twissen

Ride sharing faces the many European regulations

Francesco Redi — Wed, 26 Jul 2017 11:17:13 +0000

The sharing economy in the Travel & Tourism industry has seen an interesting development during the last years, both for the number of tourists using its services and for the sector where it can be applied. As we have already reported, these innovative practices in the transport sector had to face some controversies, even if its services are widely popular, mainly among business travellers. Uber, in particular, the well-known ride sharing company, had to face the rules of each Country, given that there is not a shared legislation at a European level. The same happened to their “colleagues” of short-rentals companies, such as Airbnb and Homeaway.

The last vicissitudes saw once again Uber in the middle of many debates on its legality, and on the possible complications regarding security and insurance formalities. For example, in Denmark, Uber was officially declared illegal, since it has been considered a for-profit company and not a real transport service, and the tribunal of the City of Copenhagen fined six drivers of the popular platform for about 800 euros. Furthermore, in France, Uber signed a partnership agreement with the insurance company Axa, in order to guarantee more safety both to drivers and passengers. Axa also signed a deal with BlaBlaCar, while Allianz started a collaboration with Car2Go. In Russia, Uber decided to merge with Yandex, the popular search engine which also works in the transportation market. The new company will worth 3,73bn dollars and its activity will include 127 cities in 6 Countries (Russia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Georgia and Kazakistan). In Czech Republic, as reported by East Journal, a regional court prevented the company from operating in the city of Brno. In Italy, taxi drivers protested after the tribunal of Rome suspended the ordinance that had interrupted the use of the app on the whole national territory.

At a European level, the European Court of Justice will decide about the future of the ride sharing companies by the end of the year. However, a judge recently declared that these companies, in particular Uber, shall not be considered as digital platforms but transport companies. Member States can ban or fine them without preventively notify the draft law to the European Commission.

It is interesting to analyse the investment round that the startup Grab received, a Uber competitor operating in the south-east Asia that received funds for 2.5bn dollars from the Japanese bank Softbank and Chinese Chuxing, leader in the transport sector in 400 cities in China.

At Twissen we observed that the recent legislative evolutions in the sharing economy transport sector haven’t completely clarified the operativity in the European market. Notwithstanding, these companies are still very popular, in particular among specific targets of tourists, such as business and bleisure travellers.

Francesco Redi

President and founder at Twissen. Manager in Local Development, Tourism Policies, EU Funds. He cooperates with several European universities, public bodies, development agencies, DMOs and enterprises.

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A new legislative context for short-term rental in Europe – Twissen Season Report Spring 2017

Twissen — Sun, 25 Jun 2017 08:00:26 +0000

Sharing economy development in the hospitality industry has risen several issues, particularly about the legality of the shortterm rentals. Even if there isn’t a shared regulation at a European level, it seems that, if compared to the past years, Governments and short-term rental companies are resolving their divergences.

As we reported in the Twissen Season Report Summer 2016, last year Homeaway and Airbnb, the most popular short-term rental companies, had to face Spanish regulations, particularly in the city of Barcelona, which had fined both of them. On the other hand, recently, the city of Madrid started the drawing up of an agreement with Airbnb, which could be signed within the beginning of 2018, in order to regulate this kind of rental, making it legal. Among the measures, it is expected a tax which is going to finance public services and a rule on limited number of days of rental.

In Italy, the Government approved the so-called “Airbnb tax”. The rule actually includes the application of a 21% flatrate income tax which short-term rental companies, both online and offline, must pay to the Government.

At a continental level, the European Commission recently published the summary of the targeted consultation which included the accommodation services providers of the sharing economy. Firstly, most of them rents their primary or secondary residence (56,3%), 61,4% as it is their single property. Moreover, 77,3% of them rents the entire property and not just one or more rooms. Finally, 57,5% stated their rental income amounts to less than 10.000 euros per year.

Geographically, in Italy (75%), Germany (68%), Spain (59,1%) and France (50%), respondents think that national rules are rather complicated and difficult to understand, especially when it comes to tax rules. They also stated that local authorities take a rather hostile attitude towards short-term rental services. Moreover, 34,3% assessed that the main reason to stop providing the service would be the complex and bureaucratic administrative procedures. On the other hand, providers from UK, Portugal, Austria and Ireland stated to be happy with the legislative context.

In the Report you can also find about:

Off the beaten paths with technology on hand
Brexit, the year after
European funds focus on transnational tourism products
Overtourism phobia
Alitalia crisis in the European air sector segment
A new legislative context for short-term rental in Europe
Z Generation, a new target of travellers
Reviews and web reputation mark new trends in the accommodation sector
Action, travel!

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Business travel segment provides development opportunities to the car sharing sector

Martina Baldo — Thu, 04 May 2017 06:33:23 +0000

Concernment towards sustainability is a trend which can be reflected in many sectors. In the Travel & Tourism industry, operators are paying more and more attention to sustainability both in the hotel and in the transport sector, for examples in airports. As reported by the World Economic Forum, several cities are taking measures and policies which are increasingly eco-friendly. This is what is happening in some European cities which are becoming car-free, mostly in urban centres. For example, Madrid is planning to make the Gran Vía, namely the most important street of the city, completely free from private vehicles by 2019. Further European cities that are moving in this direction are Oslo (Norway), with its cycling paths plan which are going to partially replace streets, Hamburg (Germany), Copenhagen (Denmark) which is planning a bike “highway”, Paris (France), Athens (Greece) that along with Madrid, Paris and London is projecting a diesel cars ban by 2025, London (UK) and Brussels (Belgium) which, after Copenhagen, has the largest car-free zone in Europe.

A solution which is now catching on well in European cities is car sharing. Nowadays it represents one of the most successful trends, along with bike and bus sharing. In fact, there are numerous investments in this field. Recently TravelCar, French car sharing company, received a 15 million euros investment round from the automotive company PSA Group and the insurance company MAIF. By now, TravelCar operates in 10 European Countries, and lets its customers to rent their car at third parties, receiving a fee from them. Moreover, it provides free parking near airports, train stations and city centres. PSA Group also launched Free2Move, a mobile app which provides a single platform that includes 20 active operators in car, bike and scooter sharing.

Notwithstanding, this mobility solution is sometimes met with mistrust, mainly due to security reasons. In fact, even if in 2016 ridesharing receipts exceeded traditional ground transportation ones for the first time, conflicting results come from a AirPlus International‘s report. The company, which analyses firms’ expenses for business travels, realised a global survey on more than 2.000 people, both business travellers and transfer managers. The survey highlighted that, even if business travellers are keen on using ride sharing services for an alternative travel experience (84%) and for the economic convenience (82%), 49% of companies prevent their employers from using them, mostly for the troubles due to managing travel reports and for safety and insurance reasons. In Europe, Italy is against the current. In fact, 38% of companies allows the use of ride sharing services; in markets like India and China the percentage rises up to about 60%.

At Twissen we observed that sharing economy in the transport sector is a trend which meets the willingness of many administrations which wish to become car-free. Car sharing, along with bus sharing, is a sector which has growing potential, especially in the business travel segment. To meet the companies needs, some changes may be necessary, in order to guarantee more security and tools to control expenses and fiscal documents.

Martina Baldo

She graduated in Intercultural Development of Tourism Systems and she has a passion for foreign languages and cultures. Since 2016 she works as administration and tourism project manager at Twissen.

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