According to the recently published report by leading tourism rental platform Airbnb, guests contributed some 6.5 billion dollars to restaurants in cities around the World in the last year alone. London was particularly affected, with spending rising by 79 million pounds since September 2016, from 443 million to 522 million.
Airbnb note that the fact that their sharing service shifts the pattern of where tourists stay from central to more residential neighborhoods means that local restaurants are also being benefitted, and not just those around hotel districts.
Quoted in Breaking Travel News, James McCLure, General Manager of the company’s Northern Europe section, clarified: “We’ve always known that guests using Airbnb to travel are not only looking to live like a local through the homes they stay in, but also in the things that they do and the places that they eat.” According to Mr. McCLure, “Local businesses are getting a huge boost in guest spending whenever Airbnb guests are in town.”
According to the statistics presented in the report, 43% of spending done by Airbnb guests was in the neighborhood that they were staying in. Airbnb guests are spending more in local business than they ever have before, coming out of restaurants with their pockets 40-100 dollars lighter on average. Over half of tourists who economized by staying with Airbnb used the money they saved to buy groceries from neighborhood shops, further aiding local economies.
This report coincides with the announcement of the company joining forces with restaurant-booking app Resy. The app, looking to boost from its current US-bound operations, gives the traveler advice on local restaurants, and eliminates the problem of language barriers during bookings. Customers will now be able to book restaurants “without leaving the Airbnb app.”
The chart below shows what Airbnb guests spent annually in restaurants in major European cities …
RELATED TOPICS: Greece, Greek tourism news, Tourism in Greece, Greek islands, Hotels in Greece, Travel to Greece, Greek destinations , Greek travel market, Greek tourism statistics, Greek tourism report
