Will You Be Able to Book an Airbnb for Your Next Holiday?

What will it mean for its users?

An Industry at a Standstill

If you want to have an idea of how badly the tourism industry has been affected by the coronavirus crisis, you can simply take a look at Airbnb’s projection for 2020.

The company is forecasting that its revenue will be cut in half compared to last year. It simply became impossible for the tech giant to keep all its employees in such dire times, and so 1,900 employees have been laid off.

So What About UK Users?

To all UK travellers who cannot wait to go back to France, like they do every year, it doesn’t mean that they won’t be able to find a place on the apartment rental website. In fact the main problem to visit Lyon, Marseille, Paris and Annecy in France, will probably be how to get there. There are no plans to reopen the country before the end of May and a gradual start to the tourism industry will be unveiled in early June. However, it has become clear that the government will favour regional tourism.

A Crisis that Will Redefine the Tourism Industry

The CEO of Airbnb, Brian Chesky told its employee in a memo sent out to all, that the coronavirus was the most difficult crisis that most people living around the world had to face, globally. It brought the tourism industry to a complete standstill, something unseen before. It will forever change the way people travel and Airbnb will have to adapt accordingly to these new rules and regulations. Evolving will be key to survival.

Before COVID-19 came, the company had many projects in the pipeline. It planned to open hotels, create a transportation division and enter the luxury stays market. Chesky has decided to halt all projects for an undetermined period of time, preferring to review the situation first before making a decision on the direction the company will take to move forward.

The coronavirus has also halted Airbnb’s entry into the public markets. It already had all the financial support it needed from bankers to do so, but now it is forced to go back to fundraising for an amount of $2 billion in new debt, which will bring its total to $18 billion.