BANGKOK, 18 July 2023: Latest data from Airbnb reveals that Airbnb hosts and guests are emerging as key drivers of economic activity in destinations and communities across Southeast Asia.
While the pandemic caused unprecedented disruption to global tourism, Airbnb is seeing a strong rebound in international and domestic guest arrivals across the region.
Chinese travellers are once more flocking to Southeast Asia, and so far, Thailand ranks as the most searched summer destination for China guests on Airbnb.
This summer, Chinese guests on Airbnb searching for early summer outbound stays (between 1 to 15 July) surged nearly sixfold compared to last year. About half of their searches for summer travel were for medium to long-term stays, spanning seven days or longer.
Chinese travellers are also increasingly looking to visit a wider variety of destinations, including Malaysia and the Philippines, which have recorded more than 10x increases in guest searches on Airbnb year-on-year.
Airbnb’s general manager for Southeast Asia, India, Hong Kong and Taiwan, Amanpreet Bajaj, opined that the challenges posed by mass tourism are clear, and across Southeast Asia, Airbnb is helping disperse guests, income and tourism benefits beyond the usual hotspots to new and trending destinations.
Airbnb guests stayed in over 100,000 different cities and towns globally last year, and since March 2020, more than 13,000 towns and cities globally have received their first Airbnb booking. Also, the communities where guests stayed increased by over 25% in 2022 compared with five years ago.
Bajaj added: “Distributed travel is affordable, boosts local economies and local jobs, and immerses people in these communities – whereas too much travel to popular places concentrates tourism economically and geographically.”
