Home share giant generating billions for communities, data shows

Airbnb says it generated more than $144 billion in estimated direct economic impact across 30 countries in 2018, including $6.3 billion in Australia.

The platform’s 2018 estimated direct economic impact is based on the sum of host earnings (calculated through the home share giant’s internal data) and estimated guest spending based on some 12,000 responses to a voluntary survey of guests.

[pro_ad_display_adzone id=”15046″ align=”left”]According to Airbnb, 84 percent of hosts say they recommend restaurants and cafés to guests, and 69 percent recommend cultural activities such as museums, festivals, and historic sites.

Just over half say hosting has helped them afford their homes.

According to the data, guests say 42 percent of their spending occurred in the communities where they stayed, and half revealed they spent the money saved by staying with Airbnb in the areas they visited.

Exploring the specific location of their accommodation mattered to 70 percent of respondents, while 86 percent said the location being more convenient than hotels mattered in their decision to use Airbnb.

The home-sharing platform argues small businesses off the beaten track are among the beneficiaries of Airbnb guests leading the charge into more regional and rural areas.

Smaller countries are also seeing an Airbnb boost, with guest arrivals at short-let properties between 2016 and 2018 up significantly in Pacific paradises Vanuatu (187 percent) and New Caledonia (175 percent).

According to the research, guests who say Airbnb impacted the length of their stay reported adding an average 4.3 days to their trip.

Airbnb’s figures show the following economic benefits based on host income and estimated guest spending (US dollars):

US: $33.8 billion

France: $10.8 billion

Spain: $6.9 billion

Italy: $6.4 billion

UK: $5.6 billion

Australia: $4.4 billion

Canada: $4.3 billion

Japan: $3.5 billion

Mexico: $2.7 billion

Portugal: $2.3 billion

Germany: $2.3 billion

China: $2.3 billion

Brazil: $2.1 billion

Greece: $1.4 billion

Netherlands: $1.3 billion

Korea: $1.2 billion

Thailand: $1.1 billion

New Zealand: $912 million

Croatia: $910 million

Ireland: $832 million

Malaysia: $734 million

South Africa: $685 million

Argentina: $664 million

Denmark: $654 million

Switzerland: $651 million

Austria: $625 million

Indonesia: $593 million

Philippines: $586 million

Colombia: $560 million

Czech Republic: $555 million

No payment or incentive was provided in exchange for completing the guest survey, according to the company.