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Airbnb funded Agritourism 2030 sets a roadmap for long term strategy growth

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Key Takeaways

  • Airbnb’s partnership with Australian Regional tourism directly funded a National Agritourism Strategy Framework to support the emerging sector.

Key Takeaways

  • Airbnb’s partnership with Australian Regional tourism directly funded a National Agritourism Strategy Framework to support the emerging sector.

As part of the partnership extension between Airbnb and Australian Regional Tourism (ART) announced in February this year, a national agritourism strategy framework has been unveiled at the first ever national agritourism conference in Ballarat. 

With the partnership aiming to enhance and grow agritourism within regional Australia, the strategy framework has been funded by Airbnb and the Federal Government’s Building Better Regions grant. It comes as farmers around the country seek strategic answers to how they diversify their operations and encourage visitors to new places.

The two organisations joined forces in 2020 to develop a bespoke toolkit for farmers looking to earn extra income through farm stays. The toolkit was created to help rural landowners transform their properties into unique tourism accommodation, and host Airbnb Experiences that showcase their town’s local produce, culture and history.

It has been great to see at the launch of Agritourism 2030, representatives of the agriculture and tourism sectors being in agreement that farm diversification into tourism is a viable and sustainable answer for many, especially with the rising cost of living pressures.

People living in the regions are some of the most welcoming, hospitable and interesting people in our nation and we want to encourage them to share their unique abilities and beautiful natural environments with people from all over the world.

This framework is giving these people involved in agritourism the tools and resources to make it viable and sustainable so that they can share their passion but also earn extra income which will help combat the rising cost of living.

Susan Wheeldon, Airbnb Country Manager for Australia and New Zealand

Agriculture and Tourism industries combined employ more than 700,000 Australians and represent Australia’s 3rd and 6th largest export categories retrospectively. The release of Agritourism 2030 represents the first time Australia has had a national approach to Agritourism. 

Providing farmers with ways to diversify may help some families and future generations of farmers stay on the land.  Benefits of Agritourism to farmers include new income streams, broadened social contact and new skills and jobs for expanding families.

Regional bookings now make up almost 30 percent of nights booked on Airbnb in Australia, and when comparing the second quarter of 2022 with the pre-pandemic second quarter of 2019, are up about 60 percent in Australia, with hosts earnings in that period more than doubled.

Airbnb Hosts go a long way in helping to grow regional tourism and really love sharing what makes their local communities and experiences so unique. Many of these locations simply don’t have traditional forms of accommodation, so visitors are often able to enjoy these locations for the very first time thanks to farm stay Hosts being able to list their property on Airbnb.

Among all the unique types of listings in Australia from tiny homes, lighthouses, and even trains – among others – farm stays are the most booked category, with nights booked in these type of listings growing by over 60 percent since 2019.

Susan Wheeldon, Airbnb Country Manager for Australia and New Zealand

Agritourism 2030 identifies six strategic priorities that underpin the sector’s growth:

  1. Sustainable & inclusive farm diversification
  2. Community capability and capacity building with a focus on regional employment
  3. Develop new, high quality, distinctly Australian agritourism experiences 
  4. Promote the sector responsibly, with an alignment to food and drink
  5. Encourage genuine collaboration and enduring partnerships, and 
  6. Provide leadership to support growth.

Australian Regional Tourism will take the Agritourism 2030 recommendations to the Federal Tourism and Agriculture ministers seeking a financial package to support initiatives focused on making it easier for farmers to diversify into tourism.

All toolkits and resources can be found below:

About Airbnb

Airbnb was born in 2007 when two Hosts welcomed three guests to their San Francisco home, and has since grown to 4 million Hosts who have welcomed more than 1 billion guest arrivals across over 220 countries and regions. Travel on Airbnb keeps more of the financial benefits of tourism with the people and places that make it happen. Airbnb has generated billions of dollars in earnings for Hosts, most of whom are individuals listing the homes in which they live. Among Hosts who report their gender, more than half are women, and one in five employed Hosts are either teachers or healthcare workers. Travel on Airbnb also has generated more than $4 billion in tax revenue around the world. Airbnb has helped advance more than 1,000 regulatory frameworks for short-term rentals, including in 80% of our top 200 geographies. In late 2020, to support our continued expansion and diversification, we launched the City Portal to provide governments with a one-stop shop that supports data sharing and compliance with local registration rules. We continue to invest in innovations and tools to support our ongoing work with governments around the world to advance travel that best serves communities.

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