Airbnb Has Big Plans for China and India
Photo Credit: A China hutong home in Shanghai, a listing on Airbnb. Airbnb
Skift Take
Airbnb projects at least 40 percent of its business will be from emerging markets by 2030, with Asian markets such as China and India driving the growth. The homesharing giant is building the foundations and investing big-time in its Asian future.
Airbnb will be making “aggressive investments” in emerging markets like China and India after seeing a huge spike in both number of guests and listings in these countries in 2018 over 2017.
The homesharing platform attributes last year’s 131 percent growth in guests in China, and 65 percent in India, to a surge in domestic travel in these markets. What's more, the countries are attracting growing numbers of international travelers.
“In 2019, we will double our marketing investment in India to drive awareness of Airbnb across the country and reach millions of potential guests,” said Siew Kum Hong, regional director of Airbnb Asia-Pacific, giving an example of an aggressive push.
“We are also working to integrate more local payment methods [in India] by the end of this year,” he added.
Airbnb co-founder and chief strategy officer Nathan Blecharchzyk was in New Delhi over the weekend to launch a partnership with the Digital Empowerment Foundation to provide hosp
