How Hosts support Virginia’s tourism economy 

Airbnb is today releasing new data showcasing how hosting empowers local residents across Virginia to earn extra income, provides affordable accommodation options for travelers, and helps support local businesses. According to a recent survey commissioned by Airbnb, nearly 80 percent of Virginians recognize the value of local residents sharing their homes on Airbnb, confirming short-term rentals are an essential and popular part of Virginia’s travel recovery. 

Today, Airbnb shared³:

• Hosting on Airbnb is a source of income for more than 12,000 Hosts across Virginia – up by 10 percent from 2019.
• More than 60 percent of Hosts in Virginia self-identify as women. 
• More than 40 percent of Hosts in Virginia said that the money they’ve earned by renting out space on Airbnb helped them stay in their home; and nearly 15 percent of Hosts in Virginia said that renting out space on Airbnb has helped them avoid eviction or foreclosure. 
• One in five Hosts in Virginia said either they or someone in their household experienced a pay cut or lost work hours in 2020 because of the pandemic; 13 percent said they lost their jobs or were laid off themselves, or lived with someone who did.
• Nearly a third of Hosts in Virginia are a small or independent business owner, or someone in their household is; nearly 10 percent are artists or musicians; and nearly 15 percent are educators 

As remote work continues to untether many from the need to be in an office every day, people are now traveling everywhere, spreading out to thousands of towns and cities, and staying for weeks, months, or even longer. Between January 1 and September 30, 2021, Airbnb brought more than 1 million total guest arrivals into Virginia – and 67 percent of surveyed guests to Virginia reported that they would not have visited the neighborhood they stayed in if they did not book through Airbnb⁴. In addition, in 2021, Airbnb collected and remitted to the Commonwealth more than $13 million in sales tax revenue.

Since the pandemic began, 6,000 cities and towns around the world have welcomed their first Airbnb guests, joining the more than 100,000 cities and towns with active listings around the world. And as travel continues to spread into new areas of the world, Airbnb is helping to keep the important economic impact created by stays on our platform, in those very communities. 

In support of fair regulation 

Airbnb supports fair regulations for  home sharing around the world. Unfortunately, legislation currently under consideration in Virginia – House Bill 7 and Senate Bill 634 – would infringe on Hosts’ personal privacy. Airbnb believes – and Virginians agree – that there should be  clear rules for short-term rentals that enable, not hinder, residents’ and communities’ ability to enjoy the benefits of the tourism economy. Airbnb hopes to partner with local policymakers to find a path forward for short-term rentals across the Commonwealth that will encourage responsible activity while recognizing the role that Hosts play in the local economy.

Our work with cities around the world

Our work with Virginia builds on over five years of partnership with cities around the world, centered around both empowering everyday people to continue to earn extra income by sharing their home and supporting common sense short-term rental regulations to ensure they do so responsibly. As part of our work with cities:

• In 2020, we launched the City Portal, a first-of-its-kind resource, built exclusively for governments and tourism organizations, that includes tools and locally-specific data for a deeper partnership with Airbnb. To date, there are more than 100 City Portal partners across the globe.
• For the better part of a decade, we have been the industry leader in the collection and remittance of tourism taxes. In the last seven years, we have collected more than $4 billion in tourist taxes globally — and in the US, we collect and remit tourism taxes in all 50 states plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.

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.