[THE INVESTOR] Airbnb launched a campaign on Oct. 15 to call for a revision to the law to allow South Koreans to share their homes with domestic travelers in the country’s major cities, it said.

Under Korea’s Tourism Promotion Act, residents in urban areas, excluding rural communities defined by law, can only share their homes with foreign tourists. 

The global room-sharing platform said it has sent an email to more than 100,000 of its members to sign up for a petition calling for the change in the law.

“Koreans are prolific users of Airbnb. Last year, more than 3 million Koreans chose to stay at an Airbnb listing when traveling,” said Lee Sang-hyun, Head of Public Policy of Airbnb Korea. “We’re calling on the government to amend these rules so Koreans can enjoy the same unique and authentic travel experience at home, as they do abroad.”

A total of 1.89 million tourists used Airbnb in Korea through 37,100 listings last year. Of them, 635,000, or 33.6 percent, were foreigners, according to the company.

By Song Seung-hyun and newswires (ssh@heraldcorp.com)