Leisure craft or floating hotels? Hong Kong hoteliers accuse authorities of inaction over ‘rampant illegal use of boats’
- ‘Open secret’ that some boats moored at typhoon shelters are being rented out to overnight guests
- There have been 27 prosecutions in five years, including eight over boats used as guest houses
Hong Kong boatman Dong* is familiar with the sight of people heading for three houseboats moored next to each other at the Aberdeen typhoon shelter on weekends and public holidays.
The visitors stay overnight to party on the boats which remain at the shelter, a base for fishermen in Southern district.
This has been going on through the Covid-19 pandemic, when Hong Kong residents have not been able to travel.
“It’s an open secret among us that these are guest houses on water because the houseboats never sail but remain permanently moored at the same place,” said Dong, who has been looking after a powerboat at the typhoon shelter for the past two years.
A controversy over the use of houseboats as guest houses or Airbnb accommodation on water was ignited this week when lawmakers and a hotelier group accused the Transport and Housing Bureau of not doing enough to stop what they described as a rampant illegal business.
They said the current maximum penalty of a HK$10,000 (US$1,274) fine was too little and the number of prosecutions, too low. They wanted the rules tightened to protect legal businesses, and serious law enforcement to ensure a level playing field.
