On October 18, the City of Cape Town and Airbnb signed the hospitality platform’s first collaboration agreement with a city in Africa.
Executive Mayor, Patricia de Lille, and Airbnb Global Head of Public Policy and Public Affairs, Chris Lehane, signed the agreement in Cape Town. Airbnb also committed to invest R13 million (€820 000) in community-led tourism projects in Africa, including Cape Town, over the next three years.
Under the agreement, Airbnb and the City will work together to promote the benefits of people-to-people tourism for Cape Town residents and their communities, and promote Cape Town internationally, as a unique travel destination.
As part of the collaboration agreement, Airbnb and the City of Cape Town will do the following:
- Partner to boost the attractiveness of Cape Town and enable Airbnb hosts to become ambassadors of the city.
- Work together to bring community-led tourism to townships and support greater economic and social empowerment.
- Promote Cape Town as an ‘Ideas Capital’ by hosting the Africa Travel Summit, bringing together 80 tourism and technology leaders from across the continent.
- Exchange insights and learnings about travel trends and the sharing economy to leverage the technology and the Airbnb platform to boost local communities.
Airbnb will look to scale its pilot programme from earlier this year – which supported training in hospitality and technology for township residents across the Western Cape – to reach more women and youth in underserved communities throughout Cape Town. The City will be invited to advise Airbnb on where to take the programme to ensure alignment with broader municipal priorities, including the City’s Organisational Development and Transformation Plan which aims to leverage technology for progress, building integrated communities and enabling greater economic inclusion.
Hosts on Airbnb have welcomed over 200 million guests in 191 countries since 2008. In Cape Town there are 17 600 active listings on Airbnb, earning a combined income of R762 million (€48 million) over the past 12 months.
In the past year, hosts on Airbnb in Cape Town welcomed almost 290 000 visitors, which resulted in an estimated economic boost of R2,4 billion (€152 million) for the city. The typical host in Cape Town earns as additional R43 400 (€2 740) by sharing their home for 32 nights per year.
“The City of Cape Town is building an opportunity city that creates an enabling environment for inclusive economic growth and job creation. The shared economy has the ability to welcome more Capetonians into the tourism sector in line with our efforts of building an inclusive city as we welcome more Airbnb guests. Cape Town is a globally competitive destination and we are creating the space for all entrepreneurs to excel,” said De Lille.
Lehane said: “People-to-people travel using Airbnb is bringing tourism benefits to local families and communities, and generates new revenue streams that stay right here in Cape Town. Airbnb has so far partnered with more than 300 governments across the world and while this is our first city collaboration in Africa, we want to work together with everyone to use technology to help spread more benefits across Africa.”
