SAN FRANCISCO—According to new survey findings and an analysis of internal data released today, Airbnb’s host and guest community generated more than $100 billion in estimated direct economic impact across 30 countries in 2018 alone.
Since Airbnb was founded, hosts have earned over $65 billion. The home-sharing platform noted that small businesses—many of which are located outside of the traditional tourist districts—also benefit from Airbnb guests as these visitors spend money at local establishments.
Between 2016 and 2018, guest arrivals of travelers on the Airbnb platform increased substantially in places like Moldova (190%), Vanuatu (187%) and New Caledonia (175%).
According to an Airbnb survey of more than 228,000 responses from its host and guest community around the world:
- 84% of Airbnb hosts say they recommend restaurants and cafés to guests.
- 69% of Airbnb hosts say they recommend cultural activities such as museums, festivals, and historic sites to guests.
- 51% of Airbnb hosts say hosting has helped them afford their homes.
- On average, Airbnb guests say 42% of their spending occurs in the neighborhood where they stay.
- 50% of guests say they spent the money they saved by staying with Airbnb in the cities and neighborhoods they visited.
- 70% of guests say wanting to explore a specific neighborhood matters in their decision to use Airbnb.
- 86% of guests say the location being more convenient than hotels matters in their decision to use Airbnb.
- Guests who say Airbnb impacted the length of their stay on average added 4.3 days to their trip.
Airbnb Direct Economic Impact in 2018 (30 countries)
Based on Host Income and Estimated Guest Spending in USD during trip:
- U.S.: $33.8 billion
- France: $10.8 billion
- Spain:$6.9 billion
- Italy:$6.4 billion
- U.K.:$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
The platform’s 2018 estimated direct economic impact is the sum of homes host earnings and estimated guest spending. Host earnings is based on internal Airbnb data. Estimated guest spending is based on nearly 12,000 responses to a voluntary survey sent to a sample of Airbnb guest accounts that had taken a trip to those countries in 2018. No payment or other incentive was provided in exchange for completing the survey, according to the company.
