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Picture: 123RF/HANDMADEPICTURES
Picture: 123RF/HANDMADEPICTURES

The expected recovery of travel and tourism in the 2022 festive season is the focus in this edition of the Business Day Spotlight. 

Our host Mudiwa Gavaza is joined by Velma Corcoran, regional lead for Middle East Africa at Airbnb.

This discussion focuses on Airbnb’s outlook for the current festive season period in terms of travel and accommodation.

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With pandemic restrictions having virtually disappeared — in SA these were repealed in June — travel, tourism and accommodation operators had been hoping for a recovery to pre-Covid levels and spending in 2022. However, those hopes and dreams are threatened by a global economy teetering on the brink of recession, characterised by high inflation and rising interest rates.

While the short-term rental company is optimistic about the recovery of travel during the upcoming holidays, Corcoran says inflation and a rise in living costs has tempered those expectations.

Airbnb, which operates as an online marketplace focused on short-term accommodation, has 4-million hosts on its platform globally with 65,000 listings in SA. In 2019, the company estimated its contribution to the SA economy at roughly $685m (R11.8bn).

Topics of discussion include: Airbnb’s business in SA; outlook for the current festive season; impact of global economic downturn on tourism; state of the gig economy; and what Airbnb’s data tells us about the health of consumer spending. 

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