World Travel Monitor: Sharing Accommodation Still Niche Player in Europe

Sharing accommodation is still a niche player in Europe, accounting for only three percent of the hospitality market share, according to the World Travel Monitor published by ITB Berlin.

World Travel Monitor data revealed that in 2015, Europeans booked sharing accommodation for 14 million outbound trips, or three percent of all their international trips. Some two-thirds of these bookings were for apartments and holiday homes, while only 15 percent were for private rooms or B&B stays.

“These apparently low figures may seem surprising considering how often ‘sharing’ companies make headlines about their dynamic growth, but they also show the sizeable future potential for these players,” said Dr Martin Buck, Messe Berlin’s senior vice president.

Experts do, however, see a major impact of the sharing economy on residential accommodation and in cities where they generate significant numbers of visitors.

Speaking at the annual World Travel Monitor Forum in Pisa last month, Jeroen Oskam, Hotelschool The Hague research centre director, explained that Airbnb now has a 10 percent share of all international arrivals in Amsterdam and nearly 8 percent in London.

“Airbnb combines a substantial part of commercial activities with a minority of authentic ‘sharers’. This means residents are displaced by tourists. So it’s ‘unsharing’.

You reserve assets for tourists,” Oskam said.

The report was drawn up following the annual World Travel Monitor Forum held in Pisa last month, where tourism experts and academics from around the world presented the latest figures and tourism trends. The Pisa forum was initiated by consultancy IPK International and sponsored by ITB Berlin, set to take place on March 8-12.