The Shore's commercial apartment units, located beside Bank Negara Building, are selling well among private accommodation providers for tourists like Airbnb operators.

Malaysia is moving on to approve Airbnb business operating only from commercial property, not residential property where privacy and safety issues were controversial leading to court, enforcement and management actions against Airbnb operations in recent times.

The Shore project, with another block comprising the Citadines Hotel, is scheduled for completion by mid-2021.

It was redesigned from 16 floors to the present planned 25 storeys, with a commercial title eligible for Airbnb or booking.com businesses to operate.

According to The Shore's General Manager Henry Fo of Titijaya Land Berhad, many of the buyers were people born in the 1980s, followed by those born in the 1970s and senior citizens. These business-minded people are taking advantage of the lack of 3,000 hotel rooms in the State capital to accommodate tourists, he said.

"Tourists prefer the centre of Kota Kinabalu when they seek Airbnb accommodation over those located out of the CBD as they would incur taxi or Grab expenses to commute to and fro the city centre where most of the experiential food is focused," said Ting Yi Hang, one of the speakers at an event at The Shore sales office, Saturday.

He claimed that young people are into Airbnb business earning five-figure income, unfettered by a 9 to 5 job, free to travel and enjoy life to pursue their interests.

Ting was speaking on how to register an Airbnb company on the Internet and how to be a super host.

He said good location Airbnb home commands better rental returns as the listings here are in over 700 pages on the Internet, adding that a super host gets higher listing priority on the Airbnb website.