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A Critical Perspective on the Sharing Economy in Tourism Using Examples of the Accommodation Sector in Austria

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• First Online: 21 January 2022

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• Malte Höfner 5 &
• Rainer Rosegger 6  

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In recent decades, services on digital platforms have become increasingly important in tourism. What started with concepts of exchange as a non- or less commodified practice of sharing accommodations (e.g., Couchsurfing) became exceedingly commodified in the platform economy on a global scale and turned into successful business models (e.g., Airbnb) with strong effects on traditional provider structures and local labour market. In Austria, the economic relevance of tourism traces back more than 100 years. Today, new forms of overnight stays, such as short-term rentals (STRs), have flooded the traditional tourism industry market with offerings in the accommodation sector and pose particular challenges in the housing market in Austrian cities. The COVID-19 crisis highlights the general volatility in tourism. Therefore, alternative business models seem to be more important than before. Discussing the relevance of hybrid sharing as a business model between market-based services and platform cooperatives in the global platform economy, domestic examples from Austria serve as an incentive for other countries to show new pathways in terms of alternative platform structures and work towards a less volatile economy. In doing so, national insights of regulations of global players and new guidelines of platform-based sharing are debated too.

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Sharing Economy Perspectives in the Tourism Accommodation Sector

The Sharing Economy Phenomenon: Challenges and Legislation

Sharing and Platform Economy in Tourism: An Ecosystem Review of Actors and Future Research Agenda

• Accommodation sector
• Austrian tourism
• Hybrid sharing
• Platform economy
• Sharing economy
• Sharing regulations
• Short-term-rentals

Introduction

This chapter focuses on the area of tourism in Austria, specifically in the short-term accommodation sector. In Austria, tourism has an important status. With 89.3 million overnight stays by non-residents in 2018, Austria ranks fifth compared to other European countries in terms of absolute overnight stays (Eurostat 2020 ). In recent years, digital platforms have gained increasing importance in the rental accommodation sector and have changed consumption patterns in other realms of daily life too (e.g., food delivery services). Today platforms serve as providers or mediators for sharing different sets of (in)tangible resources. As a result of digitalisation, the rise of the platform economy has changed modes of economic production and consumption in society (Kenney and Zysman 2016 ; van Dijck et al. 2018 ). And as in many other countries, there have been debates on how to regulate this upcoming sector (Kirchner and Schüßler 2020 ). Especially in cities, so-called ‘platform urbanism’ has significantly altered the production of space since platform activities have changed the relationship between people and their urban spatial environment (Graham 2020 ). Despite numerous efforts in Austria, attempts to counteract the changes associated with the sharing economy regulatorily have so far been unsuccessful.

In addition to structural changes, the tourism sector has been hit heavily by COVID-19, the consequences of which are not yet foreseeable. However, it is obvious that there will be fundamental changes because a decline in the total number of overnight stays can already be observed. Overall, the number of overnight stays in Austria fell by 36% in 2020 compared to the previous year. This corresponds to a decline of 98 million in overnight stays. Compared to other provinces, the federal capital Vienna was hit hardest by this decrease, overnight stays dropping by 74%. In December 2020, there was a 94% drop in overnight stays in Austria. The country’s well-known winter tourism has thus been severely affected by the pandemic in the 2020/2021 season (Statistik Austria 2021 ).

Starting with a description of various business and governance models within the sharing economy and a characterisation of the tourism market in Austria, this chapter will focus on alternatives within the sharing economy and describe possibilities for individual and (mainstream) state-regulatory action. In this chapter, references to terms or reports on the so-called collaborative economy are to be understood as part of the sharing economy since uniform terminologies have not been established (Botsman and Rogers 2010 ; Krok 2019 ), and conceptual explorations are not part of this chapter. It takes a closer look at the consequences and opportunities of the development of market-based sharing platforms by juxtaposing two cases in terms of their business models within peer-to-peer accommodation as an economic mode between platform capitalism and platform cooperatives. By presenting examples of ‘non-economic fields’, which fulfil basic structures of (commons-based) sharing, the chapter introduces various forms of collaborative consumption within the sharing economy, including platforms as facilitators and mediators for enabling civic participation.

Sharing Economy Business Models: Between Market-Based Services and Platform Cooperatives

Within the sharing economy, there are different business and usage models. Petropoulos ( 2017 ) structures the models into the following three groups: (1) P2P/C2C peer-to-peer/customer-to-customer: a platform (online/offline) through which a private person trades with another person or creates services for the latter (e.g., Airbnb, Blablacar); (2) B2C business-to-customer: trading activities or service provision between companies and customers (private individuals); and (3) B2B business-to-business: used to trade between companies or create services. Most authors developed these models in relation to digital technologies—unlike, for example, analogue exchange or ‘swapping’ circles (Hamari et al. 2016 ). The success of these models lies in the platform being perceived as an engine of trust. With the help of reputation and evaluation systems, platforms disguise the fact that things are being ‘shared’ among ‘strangers’ (Schor 2014 ). What is primarily shared on platforms is rarely an actual resource or good, but instead access to the platform, which mediates the services being shared. The good (e.g., housing space, cars, or food) is mediated by means of commission fees and thus further commodified as immaterial value for the operator (e.g., Airbnb). Regardless of whether platforms are for-profit or not-for-profit, Pentzien ( 2019 ) names three principles of operation. Firstly, they generate value by coordinating interactions and transactions between two or more actors. Secondly, they integrate supply and demand and shape the relationships between these actors. This gives them the power to exclusively determine rules and governance mechanisms. And thirdly, they generate data by acting as information brokers between the actors. This data is analysed and sold as a commodity itself. This creates competition between the platforms in the data market (Pentzien 2019 ).

Today’s sharing economy operates within the contested field between the commodification and the commoning of social capital ‘such as “trust” in the form of peer ratings and reviews’ (Thompson 2015, cited in Dobusch 2019 , p. 114), which is situated in networks mediated through platforms. Dobusch ( 2019 ) distinguishes between digital platforms that are commons-based and market-based. The essential difference is the respective resource pool and exchange process. While commons-based platforms generally make material resources available without imposing remunerated conditions of reciprocal exchange on their users, market-based platforms, on the other hand, make use of a data-driven pool of resources linked to reciprocal monetary exchange.

In the case of market-based platforms, the business model relies on the extraction of data. These platforms integrate supply and demand. Unlike data mining on social media platforms, where micro-targeting is used for advertising, short-term rental (STR) platforms such as Airbnb, recommendation algorithms wield power over providers on the platforms (Dobusch 2019 ). In terms of neoliberal logics of the generation of capital, the model is therefore based on the constant collection of data (Srnicek 2017 ; Pentzien 2019 ; Grabher and König 2020 ). With the collection of data and its processing (datafication), competitive advantages in new areas are opened up. Revenue is generated by outsourcing personnel and infrastructure costs, workers’ rights, and the costs of the operational business. Markets are monopolised and made inaccessible for other players, as is best exemplified by the business models of Uber and Airbnb (Heiland 2018 ; Srnicek 2017 ). These developments have led to sharing (economies) with commons-based platforms to pursue different strategies. Often summarised under the buzzword of ‘platform cooperativism’ (Scholz 2016 ), these models differ from the classical market-based sharing economy in their governance structure and the participation possibilities for their users. These platforms aim to counteract ‘extractive capitalism’ by returning surpluses to local economic cycles and local communities, as opposed to the business models of Airbnb and Uber, which exploit local resources as a global competitive advantage (Foramitti et al. 2020 ).

In summary, the platform acts as a mediator. A resource is made available, owned by one party but shared with others. Thus, the platform generates a higher value for the provided resource. The advent of digital technologies has led to an increase in exchange practices, so platforms today also need to establish a ‘set of formal and informal rules’ to ensure that collaborative usage can indeed be guaranteed (Dobusch 2019 , p. 110). For the sharing economy and its actors, these areas are legal grey zones. Political actors often lack the means for regulatory intervention.

The Austrian Sharing Economy

Austria generated about €536 million in revenue from sharing economy activities in 2016 (Naumanen et al. 2018 ). This corresponds to about 0.15% of the national gross domestic product (GDP). Austria’s economic performance in the sharing economy is thus slightly below the average EU GDP of 0.17%. The largest revenues are generated in the financial sector (€248 million) and the accommodation sector (€236 million), followed by the sector of online skills (€27 million) and transport (€24 million) (Naumanen et al. 2018 ). Looking at the respective sectors according to their underlying business models, the accommodation sector is characterised by international platforms offering services for short-term rentals (STRs)—usually, fully furnished apartments or rooms, rented on a daily/weekly basis. Especially in popular tourist destinations, the emergence of Airbnb has increased rents on the local housing market (Naumanen et al. 2018 ).

Within the EU, the internationalisation of platforms is most evident in Austria. In total, 221 platforms identified in the study by Naumanen et al. ( 2018 ), 39 are active in Austria, about half of which (19) are international (calculations by the chapters’ authors based on data provided in aforesaid study). With the exception of the financial sector, international platforms predominate. To illustrate this, in 2016, there were no domestic platforms, and the accommodation sector was instead dominated by six international players, such as Airbnb and Booking.com, to name the two largest (Naumanen et al. 2018 ). In terms of the total number of people (19%) who have ever made use of service via an online platform, Austria is below the EU average of 23%. However, in relation to total platform activity (EU average = 57%, EC 2018: 1; online fact-sheet Austria), almost two-thirds of Austrian users have availed of accommodation service. As for persons who have provided service via a platform, Austria is among the EU average of 6% (EC 2018 , pp. 8, 63).

Austrian Tourism Sector and the Rise of Airbnb

The tourism sector in Austria is of great significance, both economically and culturally. In 2018 the tourism sector generated 6.5% of the Austrian GDP. In the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development comparison, this is above average (OECD 2021 ). In terms of turnover, the accommodation sector generated the highest financial share of 48% (Fritz et al. 2020 , p. 18). In the 2018 winter season, 1.13 million beds were available as accommodation in Austria. Since the year 2000, this number has increased by 3.1%. Significantly above-average growth was recorded in this period for beds in private accommodations (+574%) and commercial vacation apartments (+2730%). Experts believe that this increase, especially in the capital city of Vienna, can be traced back to the global trend of collaborative consumption, driven by C2C-platforms such as Airbnb (Fritz et al. 2020 , p. 1). In 2018, Airbnb reported that 1.1 million guests booked accommodation in Austria via their service. It is estimated that in Austria, 30,000 hosts are providing private short-term accommodation via digital platforms (Kurier 2019 ).

In the accommodation sector, which relies on tourism, Airbnb has taken on the role of a digital frontrunner for services mediated via platforms. In 2017 alone, Airbnb made a profit of $93 million out of $2.56 billion in revenues, reaching $4.81 billion by 2019, only to drop by 50% in 2020. Travel restrictions due to the pandemic resulted in just 150 million bookings worldwide (Airbnb 2020 ). In Vienna, about half of the offers (49.8%) in 2019 were made by hosts with multiple listings, which indicates commercially organised STRs (Inside Airbnb 2019 ). An empirical study for Salzburg (Smigiel et al. 2019 , p. 161) indicates that accommodation offered via Airbnb is to a large degree facilitated by professionalised providers (e.g., commercial hosts with multiple listings approximately 55%). Furthermore, very few people actually ‘share’ their own apartment. According to a quick search on the market minder platform AirDNA the type of accommodation that is actually ‘shared’ (shared room) is higher in the capital, with a quarter of all listed offers than in the much smaller cities of Salzburg (15%), Graz (17%), Innsbruck (18%), and Linz (19%). One possible explanation could be the higher demand for housing in larger cities. According to conservative estimates by Smigiel et al. ( 2019 , p. 163), Airbnb is depriving Salzburg’s housing market of around 50% of its overall stock in the long term. In Vienna, Seidl et al. ( 2017 ), who used the same methodology as Smigiel et al. ( 2019 ), found an effective deprivation of 38% through the same type of accommodation. Both studies used a mixed-methods approach in which all Airbnb offers were quantitatively surveyed and analysed on two cut-off dates in June 2017 and June 2018. Subsequently, guided in-depth interviews were conducted with 10% (Salzburg) of the Airbnb providers according to provider structure (Smigiel et al. 2019 , p. 156). The method proved successful and was later also used in a similar fashion for the Thessaloniki case study in Greece (Katsinas 2021 ).

The commercialisation of platforms will become more widespread in the future and move away from the former practice of ‘sharing’ by expanding the original offer with complementary services. Such developments can already be observed with Airbnb integrating city tours, photo tours, food tours in hip restaurants, and the like in their offers (O’Regan and Choe 2017 ). The world market leader Airbnb is expanding into new business areas in order to become an all-around travel provider on a global scale (Behrendt et al. 2017 ). However, Airbnb also struggled with the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Expecting revenues of only $2.4 billion in 2020 (half of the previous year’s sales of $4.8 billion), the company announced that it would lay off 1900 employees. This represents a quarter of the total workforce at Airbnb (Grieß 2020 ). Contrary to expectations, Airbnb joined the public stock market in December 2020. Two months later, in February 2021, Airbnb presented its quarterly figures from the previous year with the surprising result that instead of a 50% drop in revenue, it only made a 30% loss (FAZ 2021 ). This is explained by the pandemic-related geographical reorientation of customers towards more remote regions. Media research (Glusac 2020 ; Grieß 2020 ; Twickel 2020 ) on tourism during the pandemic and official numbers on overnight stays in 2020 (Statistik Austria 2021 ) reveal how vulnerable supposedly stable industries such as Austrian tourism can be, especially when they have been impacted by neoliberal exploitation mechanisms, where players like Airbnb are very quick to adapt to unstable markets in times of crisis.

In the year 2020, overnight stays in Vienna were 74% down from 2019. This equals a decline of around 13 million in absolute numbers. The year before the COVID-19 crisis, overnight stays and sales in Austria reached all-time highs (Statistik Austria 2021 ). At the time of writing, COVID-19 infection rates in Austria and Europe are still high. Therefore, it is hardly realistic to expect a return to an ‘old normal’ in tourism. It can be assumed that the crisis will lead to bankruptcies and a restructuring of the tourism industry, which in Austria is strongly characterised by the winter season and ski tourism. These are both areas of tourism where adaptation to climate change will be necessary and global warming poses major long-term challenges. In 2020 the Austrian Federal Government established financial support funds to deal with the COVID-19 crisis, with companies in the tourism sector receiving financial support (Martins et al. 2020 ).

Overall, and despite previous regulatory efforts by the authorities, it is not foreseeable at this time how the crisis will affect the STR market industry. It can be assumed, however, that STRs could benefit from the situation, and already prevailing platforms could further expand their market dominance. Recent media reports indicate that Airbnb and similar platforms could emerge as winners from the current crisis: especially in times of physical distancing where people tend to look for remote locations, independent units, and are more flexible by working remotely. Despite temporary setbacks and city tourism dwindling, Airbnb will adapt its business model to include close to home destinations (‘staycations’) and enable holidays outside the major city regions (Glusac 2020 ; Twickel 2020 ).

The case of STRs in general and Airbnb, in particular, has so far involved many regulators and caused municipalities to react in various ways without resulting in any standardised regulation on a national or international level. For this reason, Austria introduced the recording obligation for platforms in 2020. Since the beginning of the year 2021, information must be made available by the platforms to the responsible tax authorities (BMLRT 2019a ).

In 2018 the development of a new strategy for Austria as a tourism destination was started but had not been completed. In interim reports, it is emphasised that digitalisation poses an enormous challenge for the industry. Blockchain, artificial intelligence, and similar technologies are seen as ground-breaking for future developments (BMLRT 2019b ). As demonstrated above, it can be assumed that the Austrian tourism industry will face changes, which bear challenges but also opportunities. At present, the state-run Corona Aid Fund is intervening strongly in markets, attempting to mitigate the negative consequences of the pandemic. It would therefore be the right time to support local, regional, or fair alternatives in the field of digital STRs and to support the development of commons-based platform cooperatives. The Commons Manifesto by Michel Bauwens et al. ( 2019 ) can serve as a guideline on how to better initiate such development processes and as a good working basis for practice at the local level. It is necessary to draw attention to new and more sustainable concepts in tourism. The following section draws attention to two different platform models providing alternative structures of peer-to-peer accommodation.

Interest in Hybrid Sharing Models in the Austrian Accommodation Sector

Due to restrictions on travel and contact, traditional accommodation services are available to a limited extent. Demand has fallen sharply as a result of the pandemic. The situation illustrates that platform-based services require reorganisation in order to remain viable even in times of crisis. The following two examples show how local actors in the field of platform economy are contributing to a critical discourse on alternative futures alongside global players of techno-capitalist platformisation such as Airbnb (Graham 2020 ). The two Austrian examples from the accommodation sector given below illustrate alternative possibilities for entering a niche market alongside players such as Airbnb and Booking.com. Although both examples can be summarised as for-profit models, their offers are different from those of players such as Airbnb. Reposée and Schau auf’s Land illustrate how current challenges can be tackled by innovation in the segments of slow tourism, rural regions, and food consumption in combination with touristic accommodation.

The Viennese start-up Reposée has created a niche market for ‘seasonal sharing,’ says Felix Woldt, its co-founder (Tourismuspresse 2018 ). The platform allows users to book holiday flats as well as weekend homes that are easy to reach and can be rented regularly over a long period of time. The Austrian platform was established in 2017, received financial support from the federal government and rents out properties that are empty over a long period of time during the year. On their website, accommodation is provided to users within a radius of maximum 300 km from their permanent residence, so they can travel there regularly over the weekend or even during the week (Sharing Economy Wien 2021 ). Proprietors remain flexible and save high initial investments in their own (second) homes. One of the aims of the project is to counteract the seasonal vacancy in tourism communities. In contrast to STRs, long-term rental and swapping models make it easier to book an apartment even in difficult times, as their business models do not require frequent rentals. In addition, individual usage and exchange models can (informally) be agreed upon between the hosts and the guests. Assuming that the business model is intended to work on a long-term basis and is not based primarily on algorithm-driven rating systems, stronger bonds between consumers and providers can also be expected, making the latter less dependent on short-term guests.

Schau auf’s Land

This platform is aimed at a specific target group (e.g., ‘Eco Camping’ labelled) within the agri-tourism and eco-tourism sector (Röser 2020 ). The main objective is to bring together caravan and motorhome travellers with agricultural businesses in rural regions, such as farms and wineries that market directly. The concept is not new—the idea comes from French wineries and is now present in many European countries with similar platforms. At present, about 150 farms are listed on the Austrian platform. Travellers can stay ‘free of charge’ (paying an annual fee of €35) on one of the farms, providing agriculturalists with the opportunity to extend their sources of income through direct marketing (Derbrutkasten 2020 ). Even though traditional segments of the accommodation sector, such as the hotel industry, suffered financial losses due to drastically falling numbers of overnight stays (Statistik Austria 2021 ) caused by the COVID-19 restrictions (Martins et al. 2020 ), it remains unclear whether a concept such as Schau auf’s Land is viable because no jobs are attached to it. Furthermore, it remains unclear whether a tourism levy in the form of a visitor’s tax is paid to the respective municipality for each overnight stay. During a pandemic, an overnight stay with Schau auf’s Land is a good alternative and further empirical research on the example Schau auf’s Land is currently in planning.

What can be observed is the necessity but also an opportunity for a change in tourism. Austria has the potential to focus more on factors such as regionality, authenticity, and deceleration, which can be subsumed as ‘slow tourism’ to advocate rural regeneration, as Alison Caffyn ( 2012 ) puts it. In this chapter, the examples of Reposée and Schau auf’s Land illustrated how hybrid platform models could become established alternatives in the field of touristic accommodation. Another alternative to fill gaps in hospitality infrastructure is creating networks of peer-to-peer accommodations in order to balance ‘substantial growth in tourism demand while having serious shortages in tourism accommodation’ (Kneževič Cvelbar and Dolnicar 2017 , p. 98). Even if they currently play a minor role in terms of competitiveness and overall market performance, they can nevertheless take on a pioneering role of alternative approaches within platform economies and peer-to-peer network relations. Enterprises like Reposée and Schau auf’s Land should continue to be supported by the public sector in terms of funding schemes in their start-up periods. The two examples illustrate opportunities within the regimes of market-based sharing and may be able to occupy niches in places with less competition than in large city regions such as Vienna.

Also, in urban contexts, more and more initiatives (e.g., Fairbnb) have appeared alongside the global players in the STR industry and counteract well-known upshots such as the gradual subtraction of residential housing and gentrification (Foramitti et al. 2020 ; Katsinas 2021 ). At the local level, there are now a number of initiatives as alternatives to market-based sharing. The goal of these initiatives is to provide paths for urban commoning via city-owned platform cooperatives and ‘produser’-owned platforms (neologism composed of the term producer and user), which are engaged in collaborative cycles and circular economies (Scholz 2016 ). In the accommodation sector, no such examples exist in Austria.

In the past, areas such as the sharing economy and other dynamic economic sectors created by digitalisation have often initiated processes of change in a pioneering way in society—with both positive and negative consequences. Terms such as sharing or collaboration must be brought into a new discourse since they have long been undermined by the capitalist logic of extraction by the majority of (market-based) platforms, differing from the initial idea of non-commodified sharing. The promise of a post-capitalist alternative to neoliberalism, originally attributed to the new sharing economy, dissipated when the business logic of the majority of digital platforms surfaced, and the expected revival of community and network effects did not lead to a transformation in the current economic growth paradigm (Grabher and König 2020 ).

Concluding, it can be said that STRs play an important role in the Austrian tourism sector. Looking at the number of domestic STR platforms, it should be emphasised that a main source of revenue in Austria is increasingly at risk of being undermined by global players such as Airbnb. In order to prevent the popular Austrian hospitality sector from slowly (and literally) being ‘rented’ out to international companies and no longer being ‘shared’ with its global tourists, the national authorities should—especially in times of crisis—provide additional support to cooperative platforms and models similar to Resposée and Schau auf’s Land within market-based economies. Such efforts must be coordinated within the EU. Stefan Kirchner and Elke Schüßler ( 2020 ) emphasise the importance of understanding the underlying organisational structures for a functioning regulation of the field. Regarding possible regulatory interventions, they emphasise the role of various actors from the public sector, private actors, civil society associations, and unions (Kirchner and Schüßler 2020 ). Only then can a transition to a new, more sustainable tourism based on supply structures of digital platforms be gradually put on a more resilient path.

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Suggested Readings

Gyódi, Kristóf. 2019. ‘Airbnb in European Cities: Business as Usual or True Sharing Economy?’ Journal of Cleaner Production 221 (June): 536–551. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.02.221 .

Mair, Johanna, and Georg Reischauer. 2017. ‘Capturing the Dynamics of the Sharing Economy: Institutional Research on the Plural Forms and Practices of Sharing Economy Organizations.’ Technological Forecasting and Social Change 125 (December): 11–20. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2017.05.023 .

Peuckert, Jan, and Maike Gossen. 2019. ‘Herausforderungen der gesellschaftlichen Verankerung von Peer-to-Peer Sharing.’ In Digitale Kultur des Teilens: Mit Sharing nachhaltiger Wirtschaften , edited by Siegfried Behrendt, Christine Henseling, and Gerd Scholl, 119–147. Wiesbaden: Springer Fachmedien. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-21435-7_8 .

Richardson, Lizzie. 2018. ‘Sharing Economy.’ In Digital Geographies , edited by James Ash, Rob Kitchin, and Agnieszka Leszczynski, 200–209. London: Sage.

Vith, Sebastian, Achim Oberg, Markus A. Höllerer, and Renate E. Meyer. 2019. ‘Envisioning the “Sharing City”: Governance Strategies for the Sharing Economy.’ Journal of Business Ethics 159 (4): 1023–1046. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-019-04242-4 .

Relevant Websites

Arbeit & Wirtschaft Magazin. Bundesarbeitskammer, Österreichischer Gewerkschaftsbund. https://awblog.at/?s=Sharing+Economy .

EURACTIV Media Network BV. https://www.euractiv.com/sections/sharing-economy/ .

European Commission—Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs. Collaborative Economy. https://ec.europa.eu/growth/single-market/services/collaborative-economy .

IÖW, IZT, IFEU. https://www.peer-sharing.de .

i-share Vienna. https://www.sharing-economy.at .

i-share. https://www.i-share-economy.org/de .

SMASH. https://cityofcollaboration.org/smash/ .

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Höfner, M., Rosegger, R. (2022). A Critical Perspective on the Sharing Economy in Tourism Using Examples of the Accommodation Sector in Austria. In: Česnuitytė, V., Klimczuk, A., Miguel, C., Avram, G. (eds) The Sharing Economy in Europe. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-86897-0_13

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The Sharing Economy and the Tourism Industry Prospects, Opportunities and Challenges

The book, by Roya Rahimi, Babak Taheri, and Dimitrios Buhalis, is an essential volume for anyone researching the sharing economy and wishing to learn more about and delve into the impact it has had and will have on the tourism industry and the wider tourism economy.

The sharing economy issue started at the beginning of the 21st century with the general goal of sharing the additional benefit through different business models, helping people save money. The sharing economy has managed to create a new way of traveling, through online sharing platforms that facilitated direct transactions between ordinary citizens to share houses and cars, traditional foods and local information, enabling social interactions that connected tourists to the local community. The increase in the non-professional provision of tourist services has been contributing to the strengthening of the income of local residents and the creation of small local businesses, thus giving alternative and differentiated proposals to the tourist, through substantial cultural exchange and experiencing the authentic local culture. It is the economic system where goods and services are shared between people.

The sharing economy is at the center of numerous current discussions regarding new technologies and innovative services, sustainability, big data and stakeholder engagement. These trends have serious implications for hoteliers, restaurant owners, airlines, car rental companies and service industries, as they are game-changers in all service industries. This edited volume encourages new theoretical and empirical developments on sharing economy studies in the service sector.

This book is one of the first academic volumes on the subject to focus on marketing and managerial implications specifically in tourism, services marketing and urban studies. Written by an international team of contributors and using real case studies, it examines topics such as:

• Introduction and conceptualization of the sharing economy
• National culture and sharing economy
• Big data and digital marketing in the sharing economy
• The future of mobility according to Uber
• Review of tourism models in the era of the sharing economy

It is an essential volume for anyone researching the sharing economy and wishing to learn more about and delve into the impact it has had and will have on the tourism industry and the wider tourism economy.

Giota Moschopoulidou

Giota Moschopoulidou is a graduate of Tourism Business Management and a Graduate of the Postgraduate Diploma of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, with a scientific specialization in "Tourism and Regional Development". She is professionally active as Scientific Tourism Development Consultant, with many years of experience in the spectrum of tourism development and specialization in Tourism Marketing and Regional Development. As a scientific editor of TravelDailyNews, she writes on Development/Sustainability/Innovation-Technology/Alternative Forms of Tourism and Culture issues. She is responsible for the scientific book presentations of tourism.

• Giota Moschopoulidou https://www.traveldailynews.com/author/giota-moschopoulidou/ Book: Trends and Issues in Global Tourism Supply and Demand
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The sharing economy and tourism

The irruption of the sharing economy can be seen in many areas of the economy, but it is having a particularly big impact on the tourism sector. Many of the services offered between peers (P2P) through the sharing platforms are seen as an alternative to professional tourism services of accommodation, leisure and transportation. Given the scale that many of these platforms have reached over the last few years, it is no wonder that part of the tourism ecosystem has been altered. In this article, we analyse the impact that the sharing economy is having on the tourism market.

The popularisation of the sharing economy is changing the way in which some tourism services are provided and has generated new ways of travelling (see figure). However, platforms’ level of penetration in the tourism market varies across subsectors. In particular, the impact is high in the initial phase of the customer journey, where platforms that connect people who rent out properties with potential customers act as de facto booking centres for tourist accommodation, complementing traditional providers. Likewise, we find platforms that help users to create their own tourism packages by facilitating the exchange of information (reviews, recommendations, etc.) with other tourists and local residents to help them plan their trip. Similarly, in the travel and destination phases, passenger land transportation services have been altered by the sharing economy. In fact, the temporary rental of vehicles between peers is one of the most prominent examples of the sharing economy in the tourism sector.

Also at the destination, where services provided are typically very labour-intensive, particularly at customer touchpoints, sharing platforms which offer more personalised services have become extremely popular. Such services might include gastronomic experiences in which tourists can share a meal with local residents, or travel experiences, such as sightseeing tours organised by locals who present themselves as a more « authentic » alternative to the services offered by traditional tour operators.

There are several factors that can explain the rise in popularity of the sharing economy in the tourism sector. Firstly, digitisation and new technologies are crucial for understanding the rise of the sharing economy. 1 Although the provision of tourism activities between individuals is nothing new – non-conventional or alternative exchanges between individuals have always existed – these interactions used to be limited to friends and acquaintances. Digital platforms have made it possible to extend these small exchanges to relations between strangers at an unprecedented scale by reducing the cost of access to market for individual providers, as well as transaction costs. Specifically, peer-to-peer platforms allow consumers to easily compare prices between different suppliers, find out more about the product or service being offered, review other users’ opinions and, in many cases, communicate directly with the provider of the product or service.

Secondly, cultural changes and economic developments that have taken place in recent years have led consumers to be increasingly open to the idea of sharing resources and accessing goods on a temporary basis, rather than owning them. Among these changes, of particular note is the greater interest in the social element and the community – the desire to expand one’s social circle through new related connections–, as well as the greater concern for the environment. 2 In this context, today’s tourists also tend to place greater emphasis on the cost and the value for money of the services they use, partly because of the wide range of services available to them. Against this background, the tourism industry is an ideal candidate for the expansion of business models associated with the sharing economy, due to the nature of the services offered. Products that cost more and are used more occasionally are the most likely to be « shared » with third parties, so it is no surprise that accommodation and transportation services are those most affected by the emergence of these new consumption models.

Thirdly, tourists’ expectations have changed. Tourist consumers – especially young people – are more open to organising their trips themselves and increasingly demand unique and personalised experiences. 3 This growing desire to enjoy « authentic » experiences has led to the emergence of new niche markets. In this context, the sharing economy has gained popularity by offering the possibility to engage in these types of experiences, which are more flexible and less standardised, 4 such as stays in unusual places and shared dining experiences with local residents.

In addition, the activities of the sharing economy have been developed at a time of rapid growth in the tourism sector 5 – the number of international tourists has increased by 38% since 2010–, 6 hence the growth of these kinds of activities has been even more visible.

What effects does it have on the tourism market?

From tourism companies’ point of view (supply), the arrival of the sharing economy is transforming the environment in which they operate. With the emergence of these P2P digital platforms, the offer of tourist services, usually made up of traditional companies, has grown considerably, as barriers to entry have been reduced considerably (it is easier for any individual to become a provider of tourism services). In this context, incumbent firms have been forced to respond to these changes in order to remain competitive. Many of them have focused their efforts on trying to meet tourists’ expectations, often by reducing prices, improving the quality of the services offered, innovating or expanding the range of services. For example, traditional providers of tourist accommodation have introduced loyalty programmes that offer additional benefits to their customers, and they have started to offer activities and events which seek to « connect » guests with local residents and the local culture. However, many of the activities associated with the sharing economy are not covered by the current legislation, and thus unfair competition can occur, since incumbent firms are subject to stricter regulations. It is therefore important to develop a regulatory framework which provides legal protection and a level playing field for all competitors (for more details, see the article «The challenges of regulation in the face of the sharing economy» in this Dossier). On the other hand, up until now, the sharing economy has primarily affected transactions between peers, where one of the parties is a final consumer. Over the medium term, however, there is significant potential for business models associated with the sharing economy in which companies can share resources so as to reduce costs and improve the efficiency with which they operate.

For consumers (demand), this increase and improvement in the range of tourist services has been very positive, since it gives them greater choice and control. 7 Today, tourists have at their disposal more options for accommodation, leisure and transportation, which allows them to choose whichever option best suits their tastes, needs and willingness to pay. Furthermore, they can easily compare quality among different providers from all over the world and read the opinion of other tourists before deciding on a good or service. On the other hand, the sharing economy has also contributed to generate a new demand in the tourism market. 8 Given that P2P platforms provide an alternative range of tourist services, they attract new and different types of tourists. Some of these new tourists are attracted by the supply of local experiences, while for others, especially young tourists, the attraction is the lower price and the digital access to the service. In this sense, this « new » supply can help to create new niche markets or to attract tourists to destinations that were not popular before. However, in order to ensure an adequate level of consumer protection and minimum quality standards, it is necessary to include these activities in the legislation.

In short, the arrival of the sharing economy and of the new business models associated with it has had a disruptive effect on the tourism industry and has changed the way consumers see and use traditional tourist services. The sharing economy can help to improve the sector’s competitiveness and to complement the traditional supply. However, the rapid growth that it has experienced in recent years poses a significant regulatory challenge, given that many of these activities are not covered by the current legislation. Adapting the legal framework to respond to this new paradigm, therefore, is crucial. 9

Roser Ferrer

CaixaBank Research

1. European Parliament (2017), «Tourism and the sharing economy», Briefing.

2. Botsman, R. and Rogers, R. (2010), «What’s Mine Is Yours: The Rise of Collaborative Consumption», New York: Harper Collins.

3. Amadeus Research Study (2013), «Trending with NextGen Travelers».

4. OECD (2016), «Tourism Trends and Policies 2016», OECD Publishing.

5. European Parliament (2017).

6. Data from the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO).

7. A. Stephany (2015), «The Business of sharing: Making it in the New Sharing Economy», Palgrave Macmillan.

8. OECD (2016).

9. European Commission (2016), «A European agenda for the collaborative economy - supporting analysis», Commission Staff Working Document.

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Sharing Economy in the Tourism Market: Opportunities and Threats

2017, Kwartalnik Naukowy Uczelni Vistula

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The sharing economy continues to evolve in the tourism sector as a convenient - and even personalised - choice in the search for more authentic experiences by tourists with a wide range of disposable incomes (Paulauskaite et al., 2017). This breakthrough innovation has changed the tourism ecosystem as well as tourism destinations at all levels. New players have arrived, redefining relationships among stakeholders and creating new impacts in tourism cities or exacerbating existing ones, including the contested phenomenon of overtourism (see, for instance Koens et al., 2018; or Szromek et al., 2019, among others). Examples of these newcomers can be found in online platforms that range from accommodation (e.g. Airbnb, HomeAway, CouchSurfing) to transport (e.g. Uber, BlaBlaCar), and also include customer reviews (e.g. TripAdvisor), general information (e.g. Wikipedia, Wikitravel), travel guiding (e.g. Tours by Locals) and food & beverage (e.g. EatWith), among others. In fact, the advent of the sharing economy has had a profound impact on the hospitality and tourism ecosystem over the last decade, affecting almost every single one of its components (Almeida-Santana and Moreno-Gil, 2017). The rapid development of the sharing economy and particularly some of its more negative impacts have led to a number of global tourism destinations taking measures to regulate it and, in some cases, limit it considerably. These have included Barcelona (Spain), where local government stopped issuing new licenses for short-term rental accommodation nearly three years ago (Burgen, 2017). Since then, key tourism destinations globally have sought to limit the expansion of Airbnb and other short-term accommodation service platforms (Guttentag, 2018). In Europe global tourism cities such as Krakow, Amsterdam, Berlin, Paris and Vienna, among others, have also sought help from the European Union to tighten up existing regulatory frameworks in this respect (Henley, 2019). However, this reaction by tourism cities is not limited to the accommodation sector. London, for instance, revoked Uber’s license to operate as a private transport provider in November 2019 as a result of irregularities found in its service provision – a decision that is currently subject to appeal by Uber (Topham, 2019). One of the issues this situation inevitably raises is the extent to which the initial ethical principles of the sharing economy have evolved over time and what role can operators such as Fairbnb play in today’s sharing economy spectrum of services and operators (Petruzzi et al., 2019).

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The Impact of the Sharing Economy as an Ecosystem on the Tourism Sector

• Navickas Valentinas School of Economics and Business, Kaunas University of Technology, Lithuania https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7210-4410
• Ieva Petrokė School of Economics and Business. Kaunas University of Technology, Lithuania https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8937-1219
• Vaida Bačiulienė School of Economics and Business, Kaunas University of Technology, Lithuania https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0558-432X
• Tetiana Vasylieva Institute of Business, Economics and Management. Sumy State University, Ukraine https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0635-7978

The authors of the article investigated the sharing economy elements as an ecosystem and analyzed the advantages and disadvantages of the sharing economy in the tourism sector. Exploring the elements of the sharing economy's ecosystem can help identify the challenges of globalization and lead to exploiting the sharing economy's potential more efficiently in the tourism sector. The study of the impact of the sharing economy as an ecosystem on the tourism sector is also made relevant by the lack of research examining the advantages and disadvantages of sharing economy models. To determine the impact of the sharing economy on the tourism sector, the authors analyzed the scientific literature. An empirical study of business models based on the sharing economy in the tourism sector was carried out. Moreover, the advantages and disadvantages were identified of the sharing economy in the tourism sector. The authors' analysis has shown that, despite conflicting views on the impact and importance of the sharing economy in the tourism sector, many experts are optimistic about sharing economy-based models in this sector. Research by the authors of the article shows that sharing economy-based businesses are superior to traditional business models.  The sharing economy-based models are preeminent because of more affordable prices for tourists, better satisfaction of individual needs, opportunities to become part of the community, a more comprehensive range of services, better access to tourism services. A better quality of services also highlights the advantages of economy-based businesses. Although the study was conducted in the Lithuanian tourism sector, we can assume that the study data can be unified and applied to analyze similar markets in other countries.

Author Biographies

Navickas valentinas, school of economics and business, kaunas university of technology, lithuania.

Doctor of social sciences (economics), professor at Kaunas University of Technology (Lithuania), School of Economics and Business. E-mail: [email protected]. Author of more than 360 scientific publications (including monographs published in the Czech Republic in 2013 and Slovak Republic in 2016, 2018) and scientific articles published in Lithuania and abroad. Prepared 7 doctors of social (economics) science; now, he is a research adviser of 3 persons maintaining a doctor's thesis of social (economics) science. Fields of scientific interest: development economics, competitiveness, economic growth, sharing economy, tourism economics.

Ieva Petrokė, School of Economics and Business. Kaunas University of Technology, Lithuania

School of Economics and Business, Kaunas University of Technology, Lithuania, e-mail: [email protected]. Fields of scientific interest: economic growth, development economics, sharing economy, tourism economics.

Vaida Bačiulienė, School of Economics and Business, Kaunas University of Technology, Lithuania

School of Economics and Business, Kaunas University of Technology, Lithuania, e-mail: [email protected]. Fields of scientific interest: economic growth, development economics, sharing economy, tourism economics.

Tetiana Vasylieva, Institute of Business, Economics and Management. Sumy State University, Ukraine

Doctor of Economics, Director of the Institute of Business, Economics and Management. Sumy State University, Ukraine. E-mail: [email protected]. Author of more than 400 scientific publications. Has prepared 15 doctors of economic sciences and 22 candidates. Deputy Chairman of the "Economics" Section of the Academic Council of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine. Head of the ARMG Publishing Center. Honorary member of the board of the European Marketing and Management Association. Head of 50 scientific and educational international grant projects. Areas of research interests: digitalization and information security of the economy, development of the financial sector, social, economic and environmental relations in society.

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Journal of Tourism and Services (ISSN 1804-5650) is published by the Center for International Scientific Research of VŠO and VŠPP in cooperation with the following partners:

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• Article influence score (JCR 2022) - 0,461, AIS quartile: Q1
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The state of tourism and hospitality 2024

Tourism and hospitality are on a journey of disruption. Shifting source markets and destinations, growing demand for experiential and luxury travel, and innovative business strategies are all combining to dramatically alter the industry landscape. Given this momentous change, it’s important for stakeholders to consider and strategize on four major themes:

• The bulk of travel is close to home. Although international travel might draw headlines, stakeholders shouldn’t neglect the big opportunities in their backyards. Domestic travel still represents the bulk of travel spending, and intraregional tourism is on the rise.
• Consumers increasingly prioritize travel—when it’s on their own terms. Interest in travel is booming, but travelers are no longer content with a one-size-fits-all experience. Individual personalization might not always be practical, but savvy industry players can use segmentation and hypothesis-driven testing to improve their value propositions. Those that fail to articulate target customer segments and adapt their offerings accordingly risk getting left behind.
• The face of luxury travel is changing. Demand for luxury tourism and hospitality is expected to grow faster than any other travel segment today—particularly in Asia. It’s crucial to understand that luxury travelers don’t make up a monolith. Segmenting by age, nationality, and net worth can reveal varied and evolving preferences and behaviors.
• As tourism grows, destinations will need to prepare to mitigate overcrowding. Destinations need to be ready to handle the large tourist flows of tomorrow. Now is the time for stakeholders to plan, develop, and invest in mitigation strategies. Equipped with accurate assessments of carrying capacities and enhanced abilities to gather and analyze data, destinations can improve their transportation and infrastructure, build tourism-ready workforces, and preserve their natural and cultural heritages.

McKinsey Live event: Faces, places, and trends: The state of tourism & hospitality

Thursday, June 13 at 10:30 a.m EDT / 4:30 p.m CET

Now boarding: Faces, places, and trends shaping tourism in 2024

Global travel is back and buzzing. The amount of travel fell by 75 percent in 2020; however, travel is on its way to a full recovery by the end of 2024. More regional trips, an emerging population of new travelers, and a fresh set of destinations are powering steady spending in tourism.

There’s no doubt that people still love to travel and will continue to seek new experiences in new places. But where will travelers come from, and where will they go?

We share a snapshot of current traveler flows, along with estimates for growth through 2030.

The way we travel now

Which trends are shaping traveler sentiment now? What sorts of journeys do today’s travelers dream about? How much are they willing to spend on their trips? And what should industry stakeholders do to adapt to the traveler psychology of the moment?

To gauge what’s on the minds of present-day travelers, we surveyed more than 5,000 of them. The findings reveal disparate desires, generational divides, and a newly emerging set of traveler archetypes.

Updating perceptions about today’s luxury traveler

Demand for luxury tourism and hospitality is expected to grow faster than for any other segment. This growth is being powered in part by a large and expanding base of aspiring luxury travelers with net worths between $100,000 and $1 million, many of whom are younger and increasingly willing to spend larger shares of their wealth on upscale travel options. The increase is also a result of rising wealth levels in Asia.

We dug deeper into this ongoing evolution by surveying luxury travelers around the globe about their preferences, plans, and expectations. Some widely held notions about luxury travelers—such as how much money they have, how old they are, and where they come from—could be due for reexamination.

Destination readiness: Preparing for the tourist flows of tomorrow

As global tourism grows, it will be crucial for destinations to be ready. How can the tourism ecosystem prepare to host unprecedented volumes of visitors while managing the challenges that can accompany this success? A large flow of tourists, if not carefully channeled, can encumber infrastructure, harm natural and cultural attractions, and frustrate locals and visitors alike.

Now is the time for tourism stakeholders to combine their thinking and resources to look for better ways to handle the visitor flows of today while properly preparing themselves for the visitor flows of tomorrow. We offer a diagnostic that destinations can use to spot early-warning signs about tourism concentration, along with suggestions for funding mechanisms and strategies to help maximize the benefits of tourism while minimizing its negative impacts.

Six trends shaping new business models in tourism and hospitality

As destinations and source markets have transformed over the past decade, tourism and hospitality companies have evolved, too. Accommodation, home sharing, cruises, and theme parks are among the sectors in which new approaches could present new opportunities. Stakeholders gearing up for new challenges should look for business model innovations that will help sustain their hard-won growth—and profits.

Unbundling offerings, cross-selling distinctive experiences, and embracing data-powered strategies can all be winning moves. A series of insight-driven charts reveal significant trends and an outlook on the future.

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Kentucky tourism continues record-setting pace in 2023 with nearly $14 billion in economic impact

F RANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky's tourism industry stayed on its record-setting pace in 2023, generating an economic impact approaching $14 billion while sustaining nearly 100,000 jobs, Gov. Andy Beshear said Thursday.

Travelers visiting the Bluegrass State last year spent $9.7 billion as tourism continued its post-pandemic momentum as a key contributor to Kentucky's growing economy, the Democratic governor said.

“We’re welcoming people to our new Kentucky home, one filled with opportunity and prosperity," Beshear said during his weekly news conference. "Where we want you to come see what we have to offer, and then we want you to move your family here to be a part of it.”

The governor joined tourism leaders at Castle & Key Distillery to celebrate the second straight record-breaking year for tourism in Kentucky. In 2022, the tourism sector bounced back from the COVID-19 pandemic to generate an economic impact of nearly $13 billion and was responsible for 91,668 jobs.

Last year was even better, with the statewide tourism industry producing $13.8 billion in economic impact and the sector sustained 95,222 jobs, Beshear said. The study by Tourism Economics determined that 79.3 million travelers visited Kentucky in 2023, up 4.5% from the prior year, he said.

Kentucky's attractions include horse farms and bourbon distilleries as well as outdoor adventure, history, arts and cultural draws. Kentucky is also home to Mammoth Cave National Park.

Bourbon tourism is flourishing, with attendance surpassing 2.5 million visitors last year along the Kentucky Bourbon Trail and the Kentucky Bourbon Trail Craft Tour, which showcases smaller distilleries. Bourbon tourists tend to spend more and stay longer compared to other attractions, the bourbon industry says.

“With distilleries now in 42 counties, bourbon tourism is resurrecting Main Streets across the commonwealth and pouring much-needed revenue into local coffers. And there’s more to come,” said Eric Gregory, president of the Kentucky Distillers’ Association.

Spirit makers have invested big sums into new or expanded visitor centers to play up the industry’s heritage and allow guests to soak in the sights and smells of bourbon-making.

Communities across Kentucky registered robust tourism numbers last year.

Beshear said tourism generated $4.2 billion of economic impact last year in Jefferson County, which includes Louisville, the state's largest city. In Boone, Campbell and Kenton counties — just south of Cincinnati — the combined economic impact of tourism was $2.1 billion, he said. It was $1.6 billion in Fayette County, home to Lexington, the state's second-largest city. In Warren County, tourism brought in $477 million of economic impact, and in McCracken County it generated $319 million.

State Tourism Commissioner Mike Mangeot thanked tourism officials statewide for their role in the sector's success, along with the thousands of leisure and hospitality industry workers. The tour guides, restaurant workers, hotel desk clerks and others are “the frontline ambassadors,” he said.

More From Forbes

10 countries with the best tourism economies—according to a 2024 report.

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Horseshoe Bend At Sunset

Thanks in part to its national parks, universities and major metros, the United States boasts the strongest travel and tourism economy in the world right now, according to a newly released report from the World Economic Forum.

Overall, however, European countries dominate the top 10 with six of them making the cut—including France, which will be an especially popular destination this summer as Paris hosts the 2024 Summer Olympics .

View of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. France ranks among the top 10 countries for tourism in 2024.

The World Economic Forum’s Travel & Tourism Development Index (TTDI) takes into account a number of factors across several categories for its rankings.

The report’s metrics focus on countries’ tourism sectors—including factors like airports, on-the-ground transportation and ports, natural and cultural resources, safety and security, price competitiveness and destinations’ openness to tourism.

“The index measures the set of factors and policies that enable the sustainable and resilient development of the [travel and tourism] sector, which in turn contributes to the development of a country,” the report says.

Best High-Yield Savings Accounts Of 2024

Best 5% interest savings accounts of 2024.

Here’s more on the report, which highlights tourism sectors around the world.

Which Countries Have The Best Travel And Tourism Industries In 2024?

Mallorca, Spain

A category that helped the United States achieve the top rank include “non-leisure resources,” which the U.S. ranked first for and is defined as having a presence of leading universities, global cities and major corporations.

With 429 national parks sites and more than 12,000 miles of coastline, the United States also came in third for natural resources, trailing behind Australia and Brazil. The country ranks No. 6 for tourist services and infrastructure.

Areas where the States fall short include price competitiveness (No. 115) and safety and security (No. 77). Malaysia ranked first for price competitiveness and Singapore took the top spot for safety and security.

On the previous report from 2021, Japan topped the list.

Kabukicho pass illuminated at night in Shinjuku district, Tokyo. The area is a commercial an ... [+] entertainment zone

Here’s the World Economic Forum’s overall rank of the top 10 countries for tourism in 2024:

No. 1: United States

No. 2: Spain

No. 3: Japan

No. 4: France

No. 5: Australia

No. 6: Germany

No. 7: United Kingdom

No. 8: China

No. 9: Italy

No. 10: Switzerland

How Is The Post-Pandemic Tourism Rebound?

While the report points out that the tourism industry continues to be on the up and up coming out of the pandemic, many countries—including the United States—are experiencing growing pains.

Of the 119 TTDI-ranked economies, 71 increased their scores between the 2019 and 2024 editions, however the average index score is just 0.7% above pre-pandemic levels.

Countries in the Middle East had the strongest rebounds, with international tourist arrivals 20% above the 2019 level. The Americas, Europe and Africa had rates around 90%.

Sustainability of travel demand is also a consideration, a timely issue as a growing number of European cities are imposing or raising tourism taxes to help curb overtourism —or at least help offset its impacts.

Beautiful canal with old medieval architecture in Venice, Italy. View of Grand Canal and gondola.

Some challenges highlighted in the report include tourism labor shortages, flight routes not keeping up with demand and inflation.

Data for the World Economic Forums’ report was collected at the end of 2023.

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Kenya’s Economy Exhibited Robust Growth in 2023 Despite Persistent Challenges

Nairobi, June 5, 2024  — Kenya’s real GDP growth accelerated to 5.6% in 2023, surpassing the previous year’s growth of 4.9%. However, GDP growth in 2024 is expected to slow down to 5.0%. This is according to the latest Kenya Economic Update (KEU) launched today, which adds that the 2023 growth was driven by the recovery of the agriculture sector, following improved weather conditions, and the services sector, with tourism and financial services contributing the most. 

According to the 29 th edition of the Kenya Economic Update: Fostering Trade for Robust Growth and Dynamic Job Creation, tight fiscal and monetary policies, elevated inflation, rising debt service obligations, high borrowing costs that constrained access to global capital markets, and the sharp depreciation of the shilling, framed Kenya’s macroeconomic performance in 2023. Despite this challenging environment, Kenya's economic growth demonstrated resilience and accelerated, driven by the government’s strategic policy measures that have bolstered overall macroeconomic stability.

“ In a decisive move to stabilize the macroeconomic environment, the Government of Kenya successfully conducted a partial buyback of the Eurobond in February 2024, a move that significantly eased the immediate liquidity constraints for the year, instilling a sense of calm in the markets ,” said Keith Hansen, World Bank Country Director for Kenya. “ The improved macroeconomic conditions, and re-access to international financial markets, are anticipated to boost investor confidence and private investment.”

The KEU projects a GDP growth of 5.2% on average during 2024-26, underpinned by favorable weather conditions for the agricultural sector, a recovery of industry, and the resilience of services. The outlook assumes adequate rainfall, government staying on the fiscal consolidation path, and the continuous implementation of the government’s structural reform agenda. The report projects that the private sector will play a stronger role in Kenya’s medium-term recovery.

Kenya’s efforts in trade integration could significantly contribute to substantial economic growth and job creation, notes the KEU whose special focus is on the role of trade integration in promoting economic growth and job creation. Trade patterns shows that agriculture is the largest contributor to Kenya’s exports, followed by minerals and chemicals. Kenya’s exports, however, have significantly underperformed. Also, the country has not diversified its products in the past few years and has lost competitiveness in the markets to which is has been exporting. 

The report notes that Kenya is proactively utilizing all channels on the global, continental, and regional level to enhance its role in the global economy and increase regional and international trade integration. Its aspirations extend beyond export growth, aiming to convert this growth into job opportunities.  

“Even though the export-to-GDP ratio has been declining, the potential for export expansion remains significant,” said Naomi Mathenge, World Bank Senior Economist for Kenya. “ Targeted policy considerations are crucial to fully capitalize on economic growth and robust job creation from trade integration.” 

Some of these policy considerations include revising trade and investment policies to foster export orientation, cementing policy coherence and predictability, strengthening institutions, enhancing strategic skills development, multifaceted support to export orientation and, drawing in more Foreign Direct Investment as a lever for optimizing the role of trade integration. The country will need to also mitigate trade and climate related vulnerabilities, especially for agricultural exports.

World Bank Kenya

Kenya Economic Update (KEU)

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Travel & Tourism set to contribute a record $182BN to the Canadian economy this year

The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) is forecasting an historic year for Canada’s Travel & Tourism sector this year, with the economic contribution set to reach an all-time high of almost $182BN.

Reaching $182.1BN in 2024 represents an additional $8.1BN over its previous peak, affirming the sector’s significant role as an economic force, responsible for generating one in every 15 dollars of economic activity.

In partnership with Oxford Economics, WTTC’s latest research highlights a sector abundant with opportunities, supporting 1.84MN Canadian jobs, with an increase of 120,000 jobs compared to the previous high point in 2019.

Spending by both international and domestic tourists is also expected to reach unprecedented levels, with forecasts indicating a total expenditure of $43.7BN and $95.2BN respectively, highlighting the robust demand and vibrant growth within the sector.

A look back on last year

Last year, the Travel & Tourism sector’s GDP contribution grew by almost 25% year-on-year to reach almost $172BN, representing 6% of Canada’s total economic output, demonstrating the sector’s integral contribution to the national economy.

Additionally, the sector proved to be a significant source of employment, creating 85,000 new jobs, and elevating the total to 1.7MN nationwide. This solidifies Travel & Tourism’s position as a major employment driver, representing one in every 12 jobs across the country.

The resurgence of international visitors to Canada has been notably strong, with international spending increasing by 42% to reach $41.3BN, highlighting Canada’s appeal as a premier global destination.

Julia Simpson, WTTC President & CEO, said: “Travel & Tourism is set to break all records in Canada. The government backed Tourism Growth Program, with its $108MN in federal funding, will further boost both the economy and jobs over the coming year.

“The Travel & Tourism sector is very strong and creating economic value and jobs. Vancouver, Toronto, and Montreal stand out as popular destinations amongst international visitors.”

What does the next decade look like?

The outlook for the next decade is exceptionally bright, according to WTTC forecasts. By 2034, the sector is expected to dramatically enhance Canada’s economy, contributing an estimated $248BN and comprising 7.1% of the total economic landscape.

This burgeoning industry is also projected to be a major source of job creation, expected to provide employment for 2.3MN people nationwide. This indicates that 10% of the workforce will be engaged in the sector, highlighting the essential role of Travel & Tourism in fostering Canadian employment.

The forthcoming decade promises not just growth, but a transformative period for Travel & Tourism. Canada is on the threshold of an era characterised by prosperity, innovation, and connectivity on an unprecedented scale, marking a golden age for the sector that is eagerly anticipated by both consumers and businesses alike.

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