Key Takeaways

  • Dominican Republic Tourism Minister David Collado said the country’s Airbnb regulation push is focused on tourist safety, not collecting new taxes from hosts
  • The government withdrew its original RENATUR registry proposal after objections from hosts and industry groups, but negotiations over new rules are continuing
  • The original plan would have required every short-term rental to register individually and forced platforms to remove unregistered listings

The Dominican Republic says its push to regulate short-term rentals is more about safety and knowing where travelers are staying when something goes wrong then about finding a new way to tax hosts.

Tourism Minister David Collado said the government’s goal is to improve tourist safety and give authorities basic information about vacation rentals across one of the Caribbean’s most popular destinations.

He insisted the effort is not designed to impose new taxes on hosts.

“What we are seeking is a step toward order for safety reasons,” Collado said, according to the local news outlet Arecoa.

Collado said tax policy falls under the country’s Finance Ministry and internal revenue agency, not the Ministry of Tourism.

His agency instead wants to know how many short-term rentals are operating, where they are located and who is staying in them.

The issue becomes more complicated when a foreign visitor is injured or killed inside a privately operated rental, he said, because embassies often turn to the Tourism Ministry for answers.

“If a tragedy occurs involving a tourist inside an Airbnb apartment, the embassies come to us,” Collado said.

“That is why we need to have the basic information and keep tourism organized.”

Dominican Republic pulled its first Airbnb registry plan

Collado’s comments come after the Tourism Ministry withdrew the original version of its National Registry of Tourist Accommodations, known as RENATUR, on July 20.

The agency pulled the draft to open negotiations with Airbnb, short-term rental managers and the Dominican Association of Short-Term Rentals after industry groups argued they were not given enough time or input before the public comment period ended.

That means the original proposal is not currently taking effect, and there is no final implementation date for a national short-term rental registry.

Related: Airbnb reportedly working with Dominican Republic officials to negotiate ‘inclusive’ short-term rental registry

Airbnb has said it supports a registry that improves transparency and safety, but wants the government to avoid excessive paperwork and distinguish individual hosts from traditional hotel businesses.

The company has also argued that any national framework should ideally move through the Dominican Congress.

What the original RENATUR proposal required

The withdrawn draft offers a preview of the requirements that could return in a revised version.

Every villa, apartment, house, room or bungalow rented for short stays would have needed its own registration number. Owners would have been required to submit identification, property records, location information, tax documentation and proof of liability insurance.

Properties inside condominium buildings could have been denied registration if the development’s governing documents prohibited short-term rentals.

Airbnb and other booking platforms would also have faced new responsibilities.

The draft required platforms to verify registration numbers before accepting new listings and gave existing properties 60 days to comply before being removed.

The proposal would have applied nationwide, including major U.S. vacation destinations such as Punta Cana, Santo Domingo, Puerto Plata, Samaná and Las Terrenas.

Short-term rentals capture a major share of Dominican tourism

The debate carries high stakes for a country where vacation rentals have become a major part of the lodging market.

Central Bank figures cited in Dominican reporting show 34 percent of visitors who traveled to the country in 2025 stayed in short-term rental accommodations.

The country has an estimated 60,000 short-term rental properties offering more than 140,000 rooms, according to Tourism Ministry figures cited by the Dominican Association of Short-Term Rentals.

Host groups support formal rules in principle but have warned that a complicated registration process could temporarily remove legitimate rentals from booking platforms and affect owners, property managers and local businesses that depend on tourism.

Collado’s latest remarks suggest a national registry remains the government’s preferred direction.

What remains unsettled is how much of the original RENATUR proposal will survive the negotiations and when a revised version will be released.

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