Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic: Insights from vacation rentals in twelve mega cities

Abstract

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a challenging global problem. COVID-19 has caused shocks to various urban systems, and the tourism industry is no exception. We analyzed the impact on vacation rentals by conducting diachronic data mining on nearly 10 GB of rental data (calendar, listings, and reviews) in twelve highly internationalized megacities distributed across Asia, Europe, America, and Oceania based on the data set from the Inside Airbnb website. All twelve cities were adversely affected. The specific time of the impact is related to the pandemic's outbreak and enforced lockdowns policies. Affected by the epidemic, reservation rates decreased, tourists preferred renting in suburbs instead of city centers, the proportion of foreign tourists in all destinations dropped sharply, tourist sentiment scores fluctuated dramatically especially among foreigners, and people focused less on tourism related activities. This study reveals the changing illustrations of vacation rentals in highly internationalized megacities under the pandemic's influence. It offers a methodological assessment framework to monitor the hospitality sector over time and aims to serve as a reference for preparedness in similar cities worldwide.

Spatio-temporal variations and contextual factors of the supply of Airbnb in Rome. An initial investigation

“…In August 2020, the supply of Airbnb accommodation decreased with respect to the year before, as expected in a social distancing situation caused by COVID-19. This was also the effect of the dramatic decline in reservations in spring 2020, equal to over −40% with respect to the same period in 2019 (Liang et al 2021 ). Such a decrease was more substantial for shared accommodation (−20.7%) than for entire apartments (−9.2%), confirming what emerged from other research: tourists were reluctant to book shared flats on Airbnb during the pandemic and preferred to rent complete properties (Bresciani et al 2021 ).…”

“…Still, after the start of the pandemic and the first social distancing guidelines introduced in March 2020, the trend becomes negative, and the fall in Airbnb listings is stronger for shared accommodations (−20.7%) than for the entire apartments (−9.2%). A reduction of the Airbnb supply led to a dramatic decline in reservations in spring 2020, the highest fall of bookings among the major tourist cities in the world (Liang et al 2021 ).…”

“…Measures adopted by governments aimed to contain the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic severely impacted the activities of the tourism sector, including Airbnb, particularly in Italy and Spain, the first countries in Europe to be affected by the pandemic (Boros et al 2020 ; Guglielminetti et al 2021 ). Consequently, during 2020, Rome and Barcelona saw the most substantial decrease in the Airbnb reservation rate among the most highly internationalised megacities (Liang et al 2021 ). Furthermore, research findings on the impacts of COVID-19 pandemic have shown that the interconnectedness of the world economy, through travel linkages as well as trade ties, can highlight spatial dependence and vulnerabilities (Krizstin et al 2020 ; Rose et al 2021 ).…”

Airbnb and COVID-19: SPACE-TIME vulnerability effects in six world-cities

“…Although there are in the meantime several case studies that focus on the Airbnb market during the pandemic ( Bresciani et al, 2021 ; Dolnicar & Zare, 2020 ), the present literature does not yet offer a comprehensive quantitative study of the recent crisis from the perspective of large cities all over the world. A notable exception is a study by Liang et al (2021) who analysed vacation rentals in various big cities and changing tourist sentiments during the pandemic, but did not develop an econometric model of the underlying forces and impacts. In this paper, we try to fill this gap in spatial-econometric modelling.…”

Second Home Tourism: An Intercession for Rejuvenetion of Tourism Destination in Covid-19 Crisis

“…As a form of "Territorial Tourism" with eco-friendly tourism infrastructure (Hoogendoorn and Fitchett, 2018), Second Home Tourism (SHT) will be a promising substitute for the mental health improvement and employee retention (Abbas et al, 2021). While international tourists are prohibited to travel and domestic tourist are interested to stay local residence (Liang et al, 2021), SHT would be a better alternative to dissolve the complexity of vacation rentals in either crowded cities or low density areas (Zogal et al, 2020). This attempt will enhance the financial recovery of the Local Economic Development (LED) and global tourism market (Farkić et al, 2020;Tangeland et al, 2013).…”