Skift Take
One of truest expressions of living like a local is to eat like one, and it's a shame that more Airbnb guests don't appear to be doing that.
A new study that examined the economic impact of Airbnb on local communities found that Airbnb does, indeed, help boost business at neighborhood restaurants, but, perhaps, unevenly: Neighborhoods that benefited most from Airbnb activity were predominantly white — not Latino or black.
To measure Airbnb's economic impact, the authors of the Purdue University study specifically looked at local restaurant employment, using data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Census, Airbnb, and 3.5 million Yelp reviews of more than 34,000 New York City restaurants over the course of 10 years, from 2005 to 2015. The restaurants in the study were located in neighborhoods that were not traditionally known as popular tourist destinations.
Researchers found that growth in restaurant employment in a particular neighborhood was often accompanied rapid growth in the number of Airbnb listings, as well as an increase of Yelp reviews by visitors to New York City. In short, if Airbnb activity in a neighborhood was up 2 percent, restaurant employment would generally increase by approximately 3 percent.
Not Living Like a Local
However, when researchers looked at data for predominantly Black and Latino neighborhoods with significant numbers of Airbnb listings and bookings, they did not see increases in restaurant employment or Yelp reviews from out-of-towners. The study sugges
