Airbnb has launched an initiative called Go Near to boost economic growth through local travel.
Go Near is designed to tap into the growing desire for domestic travel, in the face of travel restrictions to international destinations, with a recent Airbnb survey showing that almost half of U.S. respondents want to stay within a day’s drive for their first trip as lockdowns ease.
The company says the percentage of bookings made on the platform within 200 miles has increased from a third in February to more than 50% in May.
Overall, Airbnb has noted an increase in nights booked for U.S. listings From May 17 to June 6 compared to the same time period last year.
It says that families are making up a greater proportion of Airbnb guests currently with nights booked for family travel in the U.S. for the dates above up more than 55% compared to the same period in 2019.
Airbnb is updating its homepage and app to reflect the domestic demand and help travelers find accommodation and experiences nearby, it says.
A Go Near summer email and social media campaign is being launched to support these steps.
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The company is also partnering with governments and destination marketing organizations to help them use the Airbnb platform for insight on how local communities can best take advantage of the domestic recovery in travel.
Initiatives include a national marketing campaign with the U.S. National Park Foundation to promote lesser known parks in destinations.
Other partners joining forces with Airbnb include Visit Florida, Dubai Department of Tourism & Commerce Marketing, Zhejiang Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism in China and VisitDenmark.
A dedicated webpage has also been created for DMO and other organizations seeking to partner with the online accommodation marketplace.