is revamping its website in an effort to entice tourists to locations where it has more places to stay, as it seeks to ensure pent-up demand during this year’s peak season is not held back by supply issues.
told reporters in New York this week. “There’s a big search box and [it asks] you a question: ‘where are you going?’Since going public in December 2020, supply of available and desirable locations has been singled out as the biggest potential impediment to Airbnb’s hopes of a huge surge in tourism thanks to pent-up demand as the coronavirus pandemic recedes.
“And I think there’s a lot of reasons why travel is so concentrated. I think it’s because people go onand see Emily in Paris ... everyone goes to Paris, and most people can’t name tiny little towns in France.” Much of the company’s revenue growth over the pandemic period has been in people seeking to book longer stays to work remotely. Long-term stays lasting 28 days or more made up 21 per cent of all gross bookings on Airbnb in the first quarter, compared to 13 per cent in the same period in 2019.
... and will never go back to.