{"id":7765,"date":"2025-12-12T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-12-12T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/infonews.ca\/?p=7460675"},"modified":"2025-12-12T05:00:00","modified_gmt":"2025-12-12T13:00:00","slug":"hopes-dashed-for-short-term-rental-return-to-kelowna-for-the-summer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/infonews.ca\/inhome\/news\/7765\/hopes-dashed-for-short-term-rental-return-to-kelowna-for-the-summer\/","title":{"rendered":"Hopes dashed for short-term rental return to Kelowna for the summer"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Kelowna has the required vacancy rate, the tourism demand and upcoming events that would benefit from more short-term rentals but the provincial government isn\u2019t going to speed up the process to bring them back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kelowna-Mission MLA Gavin Dew put forward a bill<\/a> to accelerate approval in time for the summer tourist season, but it looks like that isn\u2019t going to happen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The current short-term rental rules in B.C. say that a city can opt-out of the ban if its vacancy rate is above three per cent. The province will decide in November 2026 if the city ban can be lifted.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cKelowna asked for a simple, common-sense fix to the NDP\u2019s short-term rental rules. With vacancy at five per cent, we asked them to let us opt out of their rules earlier than November 1 of next year, so we can have a strong tourism season next summer,\u201d Dew said in a press release. \u201cI put three easy pathways on the table to solve the problem. The government rejected every single one.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kelowna Chamber of Commerce CEO George Greenwood said another season without short-term rentals is going to hurt since travellers are already spending less on trips. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThese limited Airbnbs, where are they going to stay? If they’re going to have to stay at hotels that cost more, then it’s going to be less money for them to spend at their local restaurants and wineries and other places we would love for people to visit,\u201d Greenwood told iNFOnews.ca.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said there are big tourism opportunities coming up this year with the Memorial Cup and the B.C. Summer Games coming to Kelowna and the government\u2019s timeline is making it hard for the local tourism industry to make the most of these events.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAll they need to do, with a stroke of a pen, they can approve our request if they chose to do that, but they’re choosing not to,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kelowna\u2019s unemployment rate hit 11 per cent in November<\/a>, the highest for any city in Canada. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Greenwood said there are a lot of factors contributing to the city\u2019s unemployment rate, including this one.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf people are coming here, they’re not spending at restaurants, at our tourism locations, and our tour operators. So as a result, if people aren’t spending as much, they don’t need as many employees. And that’s contributing to a weakening,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cAll they need to do, with a stroke of a pen, they can approve our request if they chose to do that, but they’re choosing not to.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":547,"featured_media":7766,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"guid":"","source":"","byline":"","published":"","updated":"","_infotelid":"","_prepressid":"","_multisite_post_sync":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1680,541,543],"tags":[],"region":[322,323,324,325],"class_list":["post-7765","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-local","category-topnews","region-kamloops","region-kelowna","region-penticton","region-vernon"],"blocksy_meta":[],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/infonews.ca\/inhome\/news\/7765\/hopes-dashed-for-short-term-rental-return-to-kelowna-for-the-summer\/","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"Hopes dashed for short-term rental return to Kelowna for the summer","url":"http:\/\/infonews.ca\/inhome\/news\/7765\/hopes-dashed-for-short-term-rental-return-to-kelowna-for-the-summer\/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/infonews.ca\/inhome\/news\/7765\/hopes-dashed-for-short-term-rental-return-to-kelowna-for-the-summer\/"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/infonews.ca\/inhome\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/inhome-D7F5B8566CC294189BEAC3276697A1A0FDB303C6008161B1BD4F4D798DF971AF.webp?w=150&h=150&crop=1","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/infonews.ca\/inhome\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/inhome-D7F5B8566CC294189BEAC3276697A1A0FDB303C6008161B1BD4F4D798DF971AF.webp"},"articleSection":"Featured","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jesse Tomas"}],"creator":["Jesse Tomas"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"iNhome","logo":""},"keywords":[],"dateCreated":"2025-12-12T13:00:00Z","datePublished":"2025-12-12T13:00:00Z","dateModified":"2025-12-12T13:00:00Z"},"rendered":"