Malaysian island Penang bans short-term lets
Airbnb appealed against the legislation and while some homeowners will struggle with the lost income, other residents welcome the ban
After mulling it over for more than a year, on May 25, the Penang state government imposed a ban on almost all forms of short-stay accommodation in residential units – the kind typically found listed on Airbnb and Booking.com - throughout the island, with immediate effect.
Penang is the first state in Malaysia, and the first tourist hotspot in Southeast Asia, to take such measures – mostly, it claims, to regulate hordes of tourists, some of whom behave badly and disturb local residents.
Get the full story at the South China Morning Post