Naha City allocated \5 million for a survey of private vacation rentals in its draft budget for fiscal 2017. The city aims to execute the survey using a one-time lump sum that will be requested at the regular City Council meeting in February.

The system of renting private residences for vacations has been spreading nationally, and Naha City decided to do the fact-finding survey in order to decide whether to promote the system or not. The city is planning to employ a private company to conduct the survey about households’ willingness to participate in such schemes, popular areas for foreign tourists, and so on.

Survey items include locations of facilities for vacation rentals, whether they have an official operation license or not, the number of guests, and the fees charged. They also plan to conduct surveys on guests of vacation rentals, hotel suppliers, real estate agents, and agents for vacation rentals.

Naha City is responsible for issuing operating licenses for vacation rentals as a part of the health center business. There are cases, in which some applicants cannot be permitted, because requirements are too strict, and city officials also would like to know what requirements are regarded as obstacles.

Naha City received about 40 complaints about illegal vacation rentals operated without permission from residents and without agent companies. About 70% of the complaints remained unresolved, since officials were not able to reach individual owners of the residences.

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