Our work to support Toronto and communities across Canada as travel returns

On January 1, 2022, Airbnb became the first licenced short-term rental platform to operate within the City of Toronto. In the first full year with regulations in place, our community has delivered over $5 million in Municipal Accommodation Tax (MAT) and other fees for the City of Toronto – funding that goes directly to supporting tourism, as well as programs and services that are critical for visitors and locals alike, such as improving roads, transit, culture, parks and recreation. 

Toronto is one of many jurisdictions across the globe — including across Canada — where Airbnb collects and remits tourism and occupancy taxes. To date, Airbnb has delivered over $1 billion in taxes to communities across North America, including approximately $40 million collected in BC and more than $8 million collected in Quebec in 2021.  

This tax remittance comes at a crucial time, as communities rebound from the global pandemic and more and more people visit cities and towns like Toronto, Canada’s most-visited destination – visitors that are essential for a full economic recovery in a post-pandemic world.

While the pandemic’s impact shines a light on the importance of tourism spending from domestic and international visitors, Airbnb is also committed to the return of responsible and safe travel, with our global ban on parties. In Toronto, the ban has impacted more than 10,000 bookings, helping to keep communities throughout the city safer over Halloween and New Year’s Eve. 

“Over the past year, we have been working hand-in-hand with Toronto to create and implement clear, smart and fair regulations. We’re looking forward to continuing our work with the City to promote the return of responsible and safe travel, while also preserving hosting as an important source of income for our community.”

Nathan Rotman, Senior Campaign Manager, Canada 

Supporting communities and initiatives across Canada

Along with promoting responsible hosting in Toronto, Airbnb is playing a role in helping Canadians across the country recover from the pandemic, lifting up local Hosts as well as entire local economies. In 2021 alone, new Canadian Airbnb Hosts earned more than $230 million, with the typical new Host earning more than $6,000 on the platform throughout the year.

Our community commitment across Canada saw other important partnerships and initiatives. 

• Keeping communities safe: We entered a partnership with the Canadian Doctors for Protection from Guns, providing $300,000 over three years for initiatives focused on raising awareness about protection from guns and keeping communities safe.

• Providing frontline stays for first responders: We supported front line workers in need of safe places to stay through a partnership with Canada’s largest healthcare union.

• Supporting Indigenous Entrepreneurism: We partnered with the Indigenous Tourism Association of Canada to support Indigenous entrepreneurs and economic development.

• Housing Afghan refugees: Airbnb.org recently met its global commitment to house 20,000 Afghan refugees, including more than 240 refugees in Canada. 

• Support for Ukraine: The Canadian Airbnb community has stepped up as part of our commitment to house 100,000 Ukrainian refugees, with more than 1,100 Canadians signing up via Airbnb.org. 

^{_{(1) All funds CAD
(2) Municipal Accommodation Tax and other fees collected from January 1, 2021 to December 31, 2021
(3) Nearly 4,000 bookings impacted on Halloween and over 6,000 bookings impacted on New Year’s Eve}}