AIRBNB will pull out of the domestic listings and Experiences market in China and instead focus on the outbound travel business, a source close to the matter has confirmed to WiT.
Said the source, “China has been on lockdown since early 2020, and with no end in sightAirbnb formally launched its mainland China business in 2016. Then, and now, the biggest opportunity was outbound travel (i.e. Chinese going abroad).”
According to the UNWTO, by 2019, the number of outbound tourists from China reached nearly 155 million, almost three times as many as 2010.
“Historically outbound travel from China has been a significant source of travel into other APAC destinations and therefore a valuable driver of Airbnb’s network effect in the region. Airbnb expects outbound tourism from China to rebound as borders reopen and Covid-19 subsides. Likewise for cross-border travel throughout APAC.”
Since 2016, Airbnb has recorded 25 million guest arrivals using its Chinese listings. The source said that the overlap between Airbnb’s outbound and domestic businesses was not strong. In addition, “the domestic segment is costly and complex to operate. Covid-19 worsened these issues and heightened their impact”.
According to the source, stays in China have accounted for approximately 1 percent of revenue for the last few years.
• Featured image credit (Villa in Dali old town, Yunnan, China): Airbnb