Airbnb offers chance to live like the locals

New app lets guests explore ‘immersive’ experiences

LAST November, Airbnb chief executive Brian Chesky walked onto the stage in a classic downtown Los Angeles movie theatre and, in front of a rapturous crowd, announced Trips, the app-based global accommodation provider’s newest idea.

When Chesky noted that Cape Town was one of just 12 cities chosen to launch Trips — which offers its members “immersive” travel experiences so that they can get to explore a destination almost as if they live there — the cheering almost blew the roof off. The Mother City is, after all, one of the world’s coolest destinations.

But if you thought Airbnb was just so much hot air leaking out of a backpacker’s travel mattress, try this: in 2016, its users generated R2.4-billion worth of economic activity in South Africa alone.

Airbnb’s South Africa 2016 economic impact report, released this week, contains other startling numbers.

Last year, South African Airbnb hosts welcomed 394 000 guests into their homes — a tenfold increase on the 38 000 guests hosted in 2014 and three times the number of travellers hosted in 2015.

Of the total, 240 000 visited Cape Town, Johannesburg or Durban, giving those three economies a R1.9-billion boost.

About half of the travellers were from other countries.

“Over 70% of guests visiting these cities indicated they chose Airbnb to explore a specific neighbourhood,” says Nicola D’Elia, Airbnb’s general manager for the Middle East and Africa.

“And around a third of them stated they would not have come or stayed as long without Airbnb.”

According to the report, Durban saw the biggest growth in Airbnb guests at more than 300%, followed by Johannesburg (over 200%) and Cape Town (more than 140%).

While there is no specific data in the report on growth in other tourism hotspots such as the ON BOARD: One experience offered is a day’s surfing instruction with Surf with Purpose coach Apish Tshetsha, including meeting the township kids the project helps Garden Route and Kruger National Park, “we know”, says D’Elia, “that Airbnb helps to spread tourism benefits to more families, communities and local businesses, including many communities that are underserved by traditional accommodation providers.”

The evidence worldwide shows that Airbnb enables travellers to discover communities they might otherwise have missed, at the same time allowing those communities — or at least some quick-thinking entrepreneurs who live there — to benefit economically from those same travellers.

If tourism is really going to be one of South Africa’s key economic drivers, unlocking those communities so they benefit from the anticipated growth in visitor numbers will be crucial.

Some 16 000 hosts — 63% of whom are women and half of whom said they used Airbnb to help them afford to stay in their homes — opened their doors to travellers last year.

But a typical listing hosted guests for just 16 nights last year, suggesting there is plenty of capacity.

Hosts earned on average R28 000 in the year, a figure that is unlikely to push many of them into a new tax bracket.

But for accommodation providers in townships and other economically depressed parts of the country, being on the Airbnb map could have a more pronounced effect.

The Experiences app within Trips is a smart, if logical, move, suggesting local encounters tourists might enjoy.

While it moves Airbnb a step closer to being a traditional travel company that offers tours, it has the advantage of travellers being shown around a community by someone who lives there.

In a world where people are hungry for authentic experiences, this is a difficult proposition to beat.

“Airbnb helps regular South Africans to become actors of tourism,” says D’Elia.

The launch of Experiences — in which local residents can share their passions with visitors — will help develop that potential, he adds.

D’Elia points to local offerings such as Surf with Purpose and True Townships, two Cape Town-based experiences available on the app.

Surf with Purpose is run by Waves for Change surfing activist Apish Tshetsha, who offers a full day of surfing lessons at Muizenberg beach, including a break for lunch in Masiphumelele township, where the participants get to meet some of the kids who Tshetsha works with.

Over in Langa, Tony Elvin takes travellers on a three-day tour of the community where they get to apply for a dompas at

South Africans hosted nearly 400 000 Airbnb guests in their homes last year These experiences allow hosts to monetise their skills or assets

the Langa Township Heritage Museum as well as attend a church service in a place where church plays a big role in the community.

“These experiences allow hosts from townships to monetise their skills or assets and allow guests a deep immersion into these communities,” says D’Elia.

The company has also partnered with iKahya Le Langa, a nonprofit organisation working to revitalise the Langa Quarter, to get more hosts in the township.

It will also pilot a tourism programme with Open Africa and the South Africa College of Tourism that is aimed specifically at bringing more women from poor communities into tourism.