Airbnb co-founder Joe Gebbia has outlined plans to consolidate the international travel market during his first trip to Australia – a country where one in five people are signed-up members of his business.
But the major challenges to growth for Airbnb may not be entirely regulatory-based, according to research released earlier this month by Morgan Stanley, which outlines a “surprising slowdown in Airbnb adoption” in the US and Europe.
“Our AlphaWise survey data indicates Airbnb adoption has slowed, as the percent of travellers who used Airbnb over the last 12 months increased by only ~330 basis points to 25 per cent, a notable deceleration from the ~800 basis points increase in 2016,” a team of eight Morgan Stanley analysts wrote.
Two hurdles exist, the researchers say: First, the benefits of growing awareness are “topping out” in the US and Europe, sitting at an estimated 80 per cent, and second, Morgan Stanley sees “privacy/security are material and growing barriers to adoption”.
Those barriers may be less of an issue in Australia, with Airbnb reporting 122,500 active listings in the country — a 40 per cent year-on-year increase — and 4.8 million users.
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