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and very difficult to enforce.

I dunno. Reading an article like this certainly gives me pause: http://www.reddit.com/r/WTF/comments/949jc/youre_probably_a_...

Is it? Around here (Hawaii) there are ordinances in many areas restricting the number of B&Bs that operate, and neighbours have been known to complain to the authorities when they see excess traffic to/from a property.

Sounds like the timeless combination of businesses colluding with government to keep competition out, enforced by tourist-hating among the locals.

It isn't necessarily business-government collusion. Those tourist-hating locals could just as easily have been the ones to 'lobby' local government to limit these things (probably more like 'abolish,' but 'limit' was the compromise). There are lots of localities where people try to get 'community standards' enacted like keeping your lawn trimmed to a standard height or other such nonsense.

Yes, but restricting the number of foo businesses in town is a boon to the existing local foo industry, since it protects all current foo businesses from competition. It's easy for established players to say, "oh yes, regulate us, make us get scarce operating permits to which we are already grandfathered into!" to eliminate future competition.

I don't think the collusion is necessarily overt, but most businesses welcome this kind of barrier to entry.

Well, I don't necessarily want to defend it, but I think there is a rationale to do with infrastructure. In the extreme case where everyone in a Hawaiian town offered a room to airbnb, the infrastructure would buckle under the increased population - not enough parking, some places are on cesspools that have limited capacity, water usage is a problem in some areas etc etc.

Granted there are also financial interests at stake, for example the state collecting a hefty room tax when people end up in hotels. But then that money goes to infrastructure among other things, so there is some method in the madness.

Scaling issues, in other words. All good reasons, but perhaps my cynical reasons are just as true :)

This may amaze you, but Hawaii is only a small part of the world.

Until trouble occurs

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