The Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association is challenging Airbnb to maintain the same standards as hotels or shut down but the reality is that the genie is out of the bottle for this website.

Airbnb allows people to book private accommodation – even a room in a person’s house – and, like Uber, which has turned anyone into a potential taxi driver, it is all about people trying to find cheaper alternatives.

The arguments continue without any clear way of breaking the impasse: operators, whether hotels, restaurants or taxis, are regulated to protect consumers. The cost of that regulation adds to the price and it turns out that many consumers are not as worried about their rights as one would think. Airbnb boasts 1.5 million listings in 190 countries – hundreds of them in Malta – and there are numerous other sites.

The rise and rise of unlicensed accommodation has been insidious. Just five years ago, 22 per cent of tourists opted not to stay in collective accommodation; that has already gone up to 28 per cent for the first eight months of 2015. And that is only part of the story: that translates to 37 per cent of all bed nights, up from 30 per cent five years ago.

Clearly, not all those are in unlicensed accommodation but the point is that the so-called collective accommodation sector – hotels, aparthotels, guesthouses, hostels and tourist villages – has been at a disadvantage for a while. And the playing field is clearly not level.

Unlicensed accommodation, like unlicensed restaurants, does not have to jump through hoops, meet standards, reach categories or declare income. The amount of taxable revenue that slips through the government’s fingers can only be imagined.

Now the government has found a way to bring in about €6 million a year, charging tourists in collective accommodation 50c a night, up to a maximum of €5.

One would have expected the MHRA to scream blue murder but, in fact, its reaction was restrained, which is perhaps no surprise since it is partnering with the government to decide how this money will be spent and it is hard to bite the hands that feeds you €6 million.

The Malta Association of Hospitality Executives was far more forthright, saying it was a “significant concern” for the hotel industry and asking for studies on the effectiveness of this tax and its impact on hotel demand. The association is concerned it could be costly to collect. Will it actually be worth the hassle and the irritation factor just for €6 million, even if every penny counts?

MHRA president Tony Zahra said last September the government must do something about the unlicensed operators. The association is now saying that the tax (call it environmental charge, if you will) would not affect tourist numbers but again called for the government to “eradicate the practice of unlicensed accommodation”. Tourism Minister Edward Zammit Lewis has promised the government would do all necessary.

The reality is that governments all over the world are trying to work out how to appease operators who are seeing their traditional models dismantled by the social media revolution, with staggering lack of success.

There is a difference between ensuring that those involved pay appropriate tax and trying to impose standards when some consumers are clearly not bothered. So it seems all the more bizarre to do anything that risks tipping the balance – albeit by a nudge – even further in favour of the unlicensed.