Airbnb recently announced ‘Go Near’ — a campaign focused on encouraging local travel and building relationships with communities through the promise of economic growth.
Airbnb Capitalizing on Travel Bounceback
The travel industry has been buoyed by a trend of travelers preferring to stay within a day’s drive of their home for their first trip as lockdowns start to lift. This trend has driven change across the industry — Vrbo recently made changes to their platform to better serve the growth of summer road trips.
According to Airbnb’s press release, May 17th to June 6th, 2020 saw more U.S. bookings than the same period in 2019. June 5-7, 2020 also saw growth in gross booking value for the first time since February — evidence that the industry could be in for a summer recovery.
The company also published a top 10 list of trending U.S. destinations:
1. Big Bear Lake, CA
2. Miramar Beach, FL
3. Panama City Beach, FL
4. Smoky Mountains
5. Hilton Head Island, SC
6. Destin, FL
7. Myrtle Beach, SC
8. Branson, MO
9. Palm Springs Desert, CA
10 Port Aransas, TX
Airbnb News
The campaign includes a series of partnerships with destination marketing organizations in order to support local economic development.
Interestingly, the campaign’s partnerships are primarily with tourist bureaus and destination management organizations — not local governments that often regulate short term rentals. The campaign, does, however, contain an implicit focus on “good corporate citizenship.”
Airbnb makes sure to emphasize its impact on local economies as part of this campaign — the company claimed that their host and guest communities created $117 billion in worldwide economic activity in 2019. The company thinks that a rebounding travel industry could help those impacted financially by the coronavirus.
Summer 2020 could be the summer of road trips in the United States — helping economic recovery and providing relief for those who have been cooped up indoors for the past few months.
photo credit: airbnb
