Chinese New Year Update

Airbnb’s mission is to create a world where anyone can belong anywhere and we are focused on creating an end-to-end travel platform that will handle every part of your trip. As we work to achieve this goal, we are focused on building for the future, driving strong sustained growth, and creating new businesses that will power long-term success.

As part of that work, we are focused on building our community of hosts and guests in China. Our Chinese hosts keep the vast majority of what they charge for their listing and this healthy tourism drives economic activity into the communities our hosts call home.

Airbnb China is led by Airbnb China President Tao Peng. Under his leadership, Airbnb has developed an approach in China based on supporting healthy travel and ensuring the economic benefits of travel and tourism go directly to people and communities.

Our approach and team are delivering positive results. The number of Chinese travelers using Airbnb when traveling internationally and domestically has continued to increase. The increased demand from guests has helped drive efforts to add more listings and directly benefits Chinese people who earn extra money by sharing their space.

The upcoming Chinese New Year holiday — described by many as “the world’s largest annual human migration”  — highlights these trends and today, we are releasing a series of metrics* regarding Airbnb and Chinese New Year travel:

100 percent increase in guest arrivals

The number of guest arrivals made by Airbnb guests from China for travel during Chinese New Year increased 100 percent over last year.

Higher rates

The average daily rate (ADR) of an Airbnb listing in China during Chinese New Year 2019 increased by 21 percent compared to last year.

Millennials continue to choose Airbnb

More than 80 percent of bookings made by Chinese travelers on Airbnb for the 2019 Chinese New Year holiday were made by users born in the 1980s and 1990s. Millennials are one of the most powerful consumer demographics in the travel industry and there are more millennials in China than there are people in the United States.

Domestic travel trends

The most popular destination for Chinese travelers on Airbnb this Chinese New Year is Guangzhou, which surpasses Beijing as the most popular destination for domestic travel for the first time. The top five most popular cities for travel inside mainland China are Guangzhou, Beijing, Chongqing, Chengdu, and Shanghai.

Over 1,000 destinations

Guests from China will travel to 1,048 cities in 111 countries and regions during Chinese New Year. While traditional travel destinations like Japan, Thailand, New Zealand, Australia, the United States, Korea, Italy, Spain, United Kingdom, Russia, and France continue to receive Chinese travelers, boutique destinations like Iceland have also started to gain momentum. The top five most popular destinations for travel outside of mainland China are Taiwan, Bangkok, Osaka, Hong Kong, and Queenstown.

Travel with family

Nearly 60 percent of reservations made by Chinese guests for Chinese New Year travel are for groups of three or more travelers.

China will continue to be an important market for Airbnb. A 2019 report from the World Travel and Tourism Council projects that continuing global shifts in demographics will “influence top travel destinations over the next ten years,” with Africa, the Middle East, and Asia becoming the new “centers of influence” in global tourism. Airbnb is well positioned to continue to succeed in these markets and we will offer more details on our work in China and the countries and regions around the world that will drive travel and tourism in the decades to come.

*Based on internal Airbnb data for bookings as of January 16, 2019.