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16/01/2021

Travel Characteristics Not To Be The Same As Before, Says Airbnb CEO




Travel Characteristics Not To Be The Same As Before, Says Airbnb CEO
The trend and characteristic of travelling across the world will have been changed permanently by the novel coronavirus pandemic as people choosing to lookout for thousands of smaller cities to spend vacations and for holidays as well as spend more time to visit and meet up with friends and family, said Airbnb Chief Executive Officer Brian Chesky while talking about the future of the global travel industry.
 
There will be a significant reduction in the number of people deciding to visit the established and the traditional tourism and sightseeing at the top global destinations in the near future and would instead choose to travel to within smaller communities, Chesky said. He also predicted that there will also be significantly less flying by people for business meetings.
 
The Cobid-19 pandemic caused by the novel coronavirus had hit this travel startup very hard at the beginning of the year with the company reporting a loss of business of almost 80 per cent within a period of just over eight weeks.
 
But with the easing of the strict lockdown measures and the restrictions imposed by governments all across the world to prevent the spread of the pandemic, people started to travel but choose to book homes rather than hotels to stay which ultimately helped Airbnb to report a surprise profit for its business during the third quarter of the current year. The company benefited from a trend among travellers showing greater interest in renting homes away from major cities, said the San Francisco based Airbnb.
 
In December last year, a blockbuster initial public offering was launched in the United States by the home rental company with the stock price more than doubling on the day of the debut itself. The stocks of the company reached a record high of $187.42 earlier this week.
 
Following a warning by law enforcement of a threat from armed militias, the rental platform has been cancelling home sharing reservations in the Washington D.C. area for US President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration's next Wednesday.
 
Recalling the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, Chesky clarified the reason for the cancellations saying that he did not want the platform being taken as a facilitator for people travelling to Washington D.C. to commit planned violence in communities, Chesky was said this while speaking at the Reuters Next conference.
 
Chesky said that the decision to cancel bookings during the Biden Inauguration was taken by Airbnb following discussions and direction with the local and federal officials and after the company received communications from a number of hosts who were worried about the potential attacks and hence were eager to cancel the bookings made for renting on their properties.
 
However their existing reservations will be upheld by major hotel chains including Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc and Marriott International, the hotels have said.
 
(Source:www.firstpost.com)

Christopher J. Mitchell

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