Airbnb and Sports: A Winning Combination
Global hospitality platform Airbnb today announces new data that illustrates the strong, long-running relationship between sports and Airbnb. To date, Airbnb hosts have earned an estimated US$150 million from some of the world’s biggest sporting events around the world, and 44% of Airbnb hosts surveyed globally say they have hosted guests traveling for a sporting event.
Over the past decade, Airbnb has helped cities host major sporting events, creating new, flexible accommodations inventory and promoting healthy travel that better enables local communities to benefit from these global showcases. Sporting events have also been a galvanizing force for the growth of home sharing in local communities, introducing a new economic platform with positive ripple effects that last long beyond the final whistle. Airbnb has also been an increasingly popular platform for sporting communities around the world, especially with the development of new sports Experiences.
Helping Cities Welcome The Sporting World To Their Doorstep
Every week, Airbnb hosts are welcoming fans into their homes as they attend sporting events large and small. A review of Airbnb booking data shows that this pattern has played out at major sporting events around the world throughout Airbnb’s history:
[1] Table below based on Airbnb internal data from the dates and places of each sporting event
| Events | Estimated Guest Arrivals at Listings During Span of Event | Estimated Total Host Earnings from Reservations Spanning Event Dates |
| World Cups (2014, 2018) | 391,000 | Over $79 million |
| Olympics (2012 through 2018) | 112,000 | Over $37 million |
| Super Bowls (2015-2019) | 49,000 | Over $27 million |
| NCAA Final Fours | 28,000 | Over $8 million |
“Global sporting events help to illustrate the potential and benefit of the Airbnb platform like few other things can. For cities around the world, hosting a major sporting event can be both a burden and a benefit. They can create a tremendous economic windfall, but there are often questions around how much of that windfall makes its way into the pockets of local citizens. And the massive influx of tourists can place a strain on a city’s infrastructure, especially in places with limited accommodations,” shared Mike Orgill, General Manager for Southeast Asia, Hong Kong and Taiwan, Airbnb. “Over the past decade, Airbnb has helped to ease the infrastructural burden for cities that host major sporting events and enabled local residents to more directly participate in the economic benefits they can often bring.”
A Growing Sporting Community
Globally, Sports Experience bookings on Airbnb have grown 380% year-over-year. Sports Experiences now ranks as one of the top five Experience categories booked by travelers around the world.
Across all age groups of guests booking Sports Experiences, Generation Z (aged 18-24) and seniors (aged 60-90) are Airbnb’s fastest growing demographics with an incredible 513% and 433% in growth year-over-year respectively.
In Malaysia,
- Year-over-year, Sports Experiences bookings grew 647% in Malaysia.
- Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Hong Kong are home to Malaysians’ favourite Airbnb Sports Experiences.
- Popular overseas Sports Experiences amongst Malaysians include Surf School Bali (Indonesia), Dragon’s Back Hiking Adventure (Thailand) and Cycle and Snack through hidden Bangkok (Thailand).
- Locally, popular Sports Experiences among Malaysians include Stand Up Paddling at Lake Putrajaya, Cycling around Kuala Lumpur with a Local, Guided Rock Climbing + Batu Caves, and Flyboard KL: Ready, Get Set, Fly!
Other popular Sports Experiences in Asia Pacific include Cycle and Snack through hidden Bangkok (Thailand), Tokyo waterway night paddling (Japan), Go paragliding with a pilot (Yangpyeong, Korea) and Bondi Sunset Surf and Turf (Australia).
“Sports are a universal language, and sporting events have always been a pillar of global travel. They serve as a beacon for travelers from around the globe, bringing together people from dozens of different countries for weeklong festivities, adventures or one-day activities. Sporting events have been crucial to helping Airbnb work toward its mission of creating a world where anyone can belong anywhere – there are few other forces are better at bringing communities together and cutting across the barriers of language and culture,” shared Mike Orgill, General Manager for Southeast Asia, Hong Kong and Taiwan, Airbnb.