Lighthouse Keeper’s Cottage - Stay next to a Lighthouse and explore the far North of Scotland

There is a widespread belief that ‘Airbnbs’ are taking affordable housing away from local people. But it’s not as simple as this. Cities like New York, Barcelona, Florence and Penang may have banned or severely restricted short term lets, but they rely on tourism too. And I know not all short-term lets are on Airbnb.  Long before Airbnb was founded, Cornwall and North Wales had a problem with tourism and second home owners making it hard for the people born there to find homes.

Ultimately the question is:

Who is this place for?

Are Venice, Edinburgh or the Highlands and Islands of Scotland for the people who live and make their livings there? Or are they for visitors?

I want to protect the area I live in, but I also love visiting places like Cornwall, Venice and Florence. It should not be a zero sum game: visitors bring money to an area… up to a point. But beyond that point over-tourism destroys communities, buildings and ecosystems.

There is no one answer because there is no one problem

For example, 50% of Sutherland’s GVA comes from visitors, but only 11% of neighbouring Caithness’s GVA does.¹  Policies will have very different impacts in these two areas, but they are both in the Highland Council region. In fact, there is a long-term trend of depopulation in Caithness and Sutherland.

Let’s nail the myth that holiday lets are the main cause of the Housing Crisis

The real problem is not enough new homes are being built where they are needed. And this has been happening for decades.

• Things that make it hard to build new homes
• • landowners making land unaffordable
  • complex planning process
  • regulations that choked off the supply of plummeting supply of local authority and social housing
• Things that make housing unaffordable
  • the reduced supply – see above
  • uncoupling property values from income following deregulation of financial services
  • more and more properties being bought by corporate, overseas, and non-resident investors pricing out UK residents

It’s a mess.

So… what about Airbnbs and the Housing Crisis?

More new homes are needed every year in Scotland than there are second homes or holiday lets.

• Scotland needs to build 25,000 homes a year to tackle the housing problem.
• There are approximately 21,000 second homes in total in Scotland  – these are NOT holiday lets, they are private homes and secondary residences.
• In 2022, there were 18,000 holiday lets in total in Scotland – including pods, shepherds huts, and other units not suitable for housing.

Why are Airbnbs seen as the only problem?

Well, the answer to that is political, isn’t it? It’s easier for politicians and editors to to blame Airbnbs than to discuss and deal with the complex causes of the housing shortfall.

Destroying an entire economic sector will not solve the housing crisis

Destroying thousands of owner-run small business will impact remote and rural economies like Sutherland, where tourism is 50% of the economy. 

“Getting rid of Airbnbs” is not the solution to housing issues here.

Building new housing that is affordable is.

1. I saw these stats at a tourism conference, but frustratingly cannot find the source

My name is Ben, and I own and run a holiday cottage in Caithness. We bought it in 2017, when it had been standing empty for 30 years. I am proud that has been a temporary home to almost a thousand visitors to the area, and it has supported local businesses throughout that time.

Being human matters. This post was written by me, without the use of generative AI.

Last updated 31 December 2025.