How big events are bringing economic opportunity to Atlanta 

Airbnb is releasing data showcasing how hosting over recurring big events empowers local residents across Atlanta and helps to earn extra income, provides affordable accommodation options for travelers, and helps support local businesses. With film and music festival fans heading to Atlanta this month, local Hosts are preparing to open their doors and welcome them to their community.

Since our founding, the Airbnb platform has helped cities use existing space to scale accommodations and absorb influxes of visitors, all while creating important economic opportunities for Hosts and local small businesses. In April 2019, when Atlanta was last home to the Big Film and Music Festival, local Hosts earned more than $5 million. In 2021, Airbnb brought nearly 700,000 total guest arrivals into Atlanta and 2.3 million to Georgia. 

“Big events with a high demand for accommodations – like the upcoming film and music festivals – are a tremendous economic opportunity for current and prospective hosts, while also bringing valuable tourism dollars to our Atlanta community”, said Nia Brown, Public Policy Manager for Airbnb. “Airbnb is proud  to play a role in welcoming back these events to Atlanta and to spread the benefits of tourism in the Big Peach.”

In 2021, the typical US Airbnb Host’s income rose to more than $13,800, an increase of 85 percent over 2019. New Airbnb Hosts in the US also saw an increase in income in 2021, earning more than $1.8 billion – up 34 percent from 2019. In fact, Georgia is the #5 state in the US for new Host income in 2021, with new Airbnb Hosts statewide earning approximately $80 million. 

Home sharing has served as a source of income for more than 40,000 Hosts across the state with 9,500 Hosts in the Atlanta metro area. Fifty-six percent of Hosts in Atlanta self-identify as women, and 35 percent are families. 

Given this, Airbnb can be an impactful tool for economic empowerment, providing a path to entrepreneurship for Atlanta residents and helping local families pay their bills by sharing their homes. According to a survey of our US Host community, 42 percent said the money they earned on Airbnb helped them stay in their homes.

One-quarter of Atlanta Hosts said either they or someone in their household experienced a pay cut or lost work hours in 2020 because of the pandemic; 18 percent said they lost their jobs or were laid off themselves, or lived with someone who did. About 40 percent of Hosts in Atlanta are either a small or independent business owner themselves, or live with one; 12 percent are artists or musicians; and 10 percent are teachers.

Supporting the return of tourism 

Last year, a report by Oxford Economics found that in 2019, Airbnb guest spending in Atlanta supported 3,400 jobs, including 1,200 in the restaurant industry. Almost 40 percent said that saving money on their accommodations by staying at an Airbnb listing allowed them to spend more on other goods or services in Atlanta. 

Tourism taxes are also key revenue-generating mechanisms for jurisdictions across the country. In recent years, these taxes have become even more important as cities and towns have looked to not only recover from the financial impact of the pandemic, but also embrace the opportunity of a fundamental shift in travel that has brought guests to thousands more communities around the world. In 2021, Airbnb collected and remitted to the Commonwealth more than $56 million in sales tax revenue in Georgia. 

Our commitment to the community 

This year, we announced the location of our new tech hub in the City of Atlanta, to serve as the home for one of our product development teams and the regional base for new technical and non-technical roles over time. This is the latest step in our broader commitment to long-term partnership with the City of Atlanta. With the opening of the Atlanta Tech Hub, we will continue our work developing community partnerships in the city to expand entrepreneurship opportunities and create pathways for Atlanta residents to pursue careers in technology. This work builds on our existing partnerships with the NAACP, the Russell Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (RCIE), Tech Bridge, and others in the Atlanta community.