Hopes dashed for short-term rental return to Kelowna for the summer

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’t going to speed up the process to bring them back.

Kelowna-Mission MLA Gavin Dew put forward a bill to accelerate approval in time for the summer tourist season, but it looks like that isn’t going to happen.

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.  

“Kelowna asked for a simple, common-sense fix to the NDP’s 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,” Dew said in a press release. “I put three easy pathways on the table to solve the problem. The government rejected every single one.”

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. 

“These 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,” Greenwood told iNFOnews.ca.

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’s timeline is making it hard for the local tourism industry to make the most of these events. 

“All 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,” he said. 

Kelowna’s unemployment rate hit 11 per cent in November, the highest for any city in Canada. 

Greenwood said there are a lot of factors contributing to the city’s unemployment rate, including this one. 

“If 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,” he said.