Airbnb Joins European Travel Commission to Promote Healthy Tourism

Airbnb, a renowned home-sharing platform, has joined the European Travel Commission (ETC) as an associate member to support Europe as a travel destination and promote healthy tourism – local, authentic, diverse, inclusive, and sustainable tourism forms – across the continent.

Photo source: Airbnb

“The ETC has been working for years to boost sustainable tourism development in Europe raising awareness of European lesser known destinations and highlighting benefits of local experiences and off-season travel,” the ETC said in an announcement.

Airbnb’s membership of ETC will encourage both organizations to work together on this shared objective, as they explore new marketing opportunities and continue to develop community-led travel experiences across Europe.

Photo source: Airbnb

The cooperation will also allow Airbnb to exchange insights from the sharing economy with ETC through co-organised thought leadership events and joint research on tourism trends in Europe.

Chinese guests in Europe: € 81.5 million through Airbnb in 2018

According to the ETC, during the 2018 EU-China Tourism Year, an initiative designed to increase visitors’ flows and investments on both sides, hundreds of thousands of European and Chinese citizens have directly experienced the economic benefits of tourism thanks to hosting on Airbnb.

Photo Source: ecty2018.org

“Given this success, the European Travel Commission and Airbnb have agreed to work together beyond the 2018 EU-China Tourism Year, to leverage the benefits of the sharing economy for European citizens and to encourage travel between Europe and China,” the ETC said.

Figures from ETC show a 5.1 percent year-on-year increase in Chinese arrivals in EU destinations during January – December 2018, compared to the same period in 2017. Data from Airbnb shows that the number of guest arrivals in Airbnb rental properties from China to EU28 countries totaled over 730,000.

Moreover, according to the ETC, the host payout on Airbnb from Chinese guests in EU28 countries in 2018 totaled 81.5 million euros.

The top 5 destinations for Chinese guests traveling to EU28 countries through Airbnb in 2018 were the United Kingdom, Italy, France, Spain and Germany.