Airbnb ranks Victoria among most popular places in Canada for remote workers

A view of downtown Victoria from Mt. Tolmie. (CTV News)

With the COVID-19 pandemic changing the landscape of working conditions across North America, Airbnb says more and more people are looking to travel and work at the same time.

On Wednesday, the company highlighted some of the most popular places to stay in Canada for remote workers who are looking for a long-term place to stay.

Victoria saw the fifth highest number of long-term bookings of any city in Canada in the first fiscal quarter of 2022, according to Airbnb.

Toronto was the most popular choice, followed by Montreal, Vancouver, and Calgary, respectively.

Meanwhile, Victoria was considered the fifth "best equipped" city for long-term remote workers, based on the amount of long-term stay listings available for travellers.

Victoria wasn't the only island community to be put in the spotlight Wednesday.

Airbnb says Nanaimo was considered the third most-hospitable city for long-term stays in Canada, based on its per cent of five-star reviews.

Approximately 87.1 per cent of travellers at long-term accommodations in Nanaimo gave the city's hosts five star reviews, the highest percentage in B.C.

Nanaimo was beat only by Halifax, with 92.6 per cent, and Winnipeg with 87.7 per cent.

A welcome sign in Nanaimo, B.C., is pictured. (CTV News)

HOUSING CRISIS

With affordable housing a top concern for many Canadians, particularly in B.C., the popularity of Airbnbs in Victoria may not be welcome news to some.

Last month, the City of Victoria told CTV News it was investigating hundreds of potentially unlicensed Airbnbs.

Under city bylaws, short-term rental licences can only be awarded to homeowners under specific conditions.

Victoria Mayor Lisa Helps said that 410 investigations into unlicensed short-term rentals were underway in early June.

She hoped that those investigations would lead to fines, noting that in 2021four cases about unlicensed short-term rentals went to court and led to $20,000 in fines and five people being banned from operating their rentals.

Helps said she'd like to see more support from other municipalities, the province, and Airbnb to help curb the number of unlicensed short-term rentals, as B.C. wrestles with housing affordability.

"We've used the full extent of our authority," Helps said at the time.

"We know we're in a crisis. We cracked down on this five years ago before there was a crisis, and we're using all of our tools in our tool box," she said.

With files from CTV News Vancouver Island's Eric Lloyd