I don't see why the person who wants a short term rental has any less right than the longer term tenant. They express their desire via willingness to pay.
The issue is the housing market is becoming so disconnected from a free market that huge supply imbalances are opening up without supply providers having the ability to close the gap (because of laws and regulations)
> I don't see why the person who wants a short term rental has any less right than the longer term tenant.
That's because you only look at the individual people, which is precisely my point.
For society at large, for the GDP, short term tourists are not what society / the economy needs (unless your entire society is based on tourism, which is a dangerous path on its own as many countries like Croatia discovered during Covid). Short term tourists contribute barely anything to the economy outside of eating out, museum entrance fees and where the law allows for it dedicated taxes (which many AirBnBs just skip on). In contrast, actual economic activity needs people and these people need long term stays.
Society isn't about producing the maximum GDP though, it's about producing things people want. Sure, going on a vacation doesn't produce lasting value, but that's not the point. The person on vacation wanted to do it and that's sufficient reason on its own.
Yes, towns obviously need a long term population, but this isn't usually the problem outside of smaller rural tourist towns.
The issue is the housing market is becoming so disconnected from a free market that huge supply imbalances are opening up without supply providers having the ability to close the gap (because of laws and regulations)