Amid strong Asia growth, Airbnb to invest US$2M in ‘healthy’ tourism projects in the region
Airbnb claimed it supported 370,000 jobs across 116 APEC cities in 2016
Airbnb has announced it will invest US$2 million through 2020 to boost sustainable and innovative tourism projects in Asia Pacific.
Nathan Blecharczyk, Airbnb’s Co-founder, unveiled this new initiative at the APEC (Asia Pacific Economic Community) CEO Summit in Da Nang, during a panel discussion on the ‘New Job Creators’.
The initiative is part of the short-term home rental platform’s commitment to “strengthen communities through healthy tourism and empower hospitality entrepreneurs across the region.”
The US$2 million fund will be accessible to destination marketing organisations, NGOs, nonprofit agencies and community social groups.
“Airbnb is dedicated to empowering people and communities through healthy tourism, and we have a long tradition of supporting local projects in Asia-Pacific,” said Blecharczyk. “We’re excited to continue these efforts and support APEC’s goal of driving sustainable and inclusive tourism to Asia-Pacific economies.”
Some of these projects that Airbnb has supported in the past include the Self Employed Women’s Association of India (SEWA) and the Guilin Municipal Government Tourism Development Committee.
“Airbnb worked with SEWA to empower its member to pursues new livelihoods by sharing their homes on Airbnb, through training and building a strong community of SEWA hosts who can learn from one another,” Airbnb said, in an official press statement to e27.
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“More recently last month, Airbnb signed a partnership to boost tourism in Guilin, collaborating to promote the destination’s unique culture to international travellers and develop the sharing economy.”
Airbnb is growing fast in APAC
Airbnb has been growing steadily in the Asia Pacific region, despite pushback from some governments. It claimed to have boosted APEC economics by US$28 billion and supported 370,000 jobs across 116 APEC in 2016.
The press release stated that “in the past 12 months, 55 million guest arrivals to APEC member economies were made on Airbnb, while Airbnb hosts in APEC member economies earned about $8 billion during the same time period.”
In 2016, Airbnb guests accounted for more than 5 per cent of international guest arrivals in APAC countries, such as Taipei (8 per cent), Australia (11 per cent) and Japan (15 per cent).
Several APAC countries have also logged more than 100 per cent YoY growth in inbound Airbnb guest arrivals.
These include Korea (104 percent), the Philippines (133 percent), Vietnam (154 percent), Brunei (170 percent), Malaysia (179 percent), and China (268 percent).
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