Last year, MDEC introduced the DE Nomad initiative where they estimate that by 2025, a total of 80 thousand digital nomads will come to Malaysia to work and also vacation at the same time.
With this, in August last year, Airbnb has collaborated with MDEC to introduce the empowerment of the DE Rantau initiative by offering long-term accommodation locations.
During the Embracing the Future of Travel, Catalyzing Tourism Growth event where Airbnb showed an increase in the number of room bookings, the MDEC also said that applications for the digital nomad pass had also doubled since it was introduced last year. About 100 applications were recorded last year, and for the first half of this year, the figure has increased to 200.
Almost half of these applications also seem to have shown these digital nomads bringing their families to Malaysia to work here temporarily, combining it also with a holiday together with loved ones
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Airbnb says that to date, they have around 800 accommodations registered under the DE Region program in locations such as Kuala Lumpur, Melaka city, Johor Bahru, Ipoh and George Town with rental options of 3-4 nights up to a week, depending on needs. foreigners.
In the meantime, the government, with the help of the Ministry of Housing and Local Government also seems to be developing guidelines for short-term rental agreements to make it easier for local governments to set rules and laws for these short-term rentals.