Nathan Blecharczyk, Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer, Airbnb
I recently visited New Delhi, India to attend the Global Business Summit wherein I discussed — how and why India is one of the fastest-growing emerging markets in the world (and for Airbnb, the San Francisco-based homestay listing giant).
India: Important source market in the world
As compared to the rest of the world, tourism in the emerging markets is growing at twice the rate. There are reasons for that: the growing travel and tourism; a huge population, rising millennials, and a growing middle class. I think: if you are in the travel business, it is important to see a huge potential in meeting the demand of the rising urban millennials in India who want new and more exciting ways to travel. I also believe that India is well on its way to becoming one of the new ‘centres of influence’ in global tourism.
Accommodation trends for corporates
There is a lot of traction when it comes to business travel in India. For instance, we have partnered with 6,500 companies in India who have signed with Airbnb for business travel.
If we talk about the accommodation trends — firstly, there are many business travellers who are staying long, a week or so, looking for the comfort of home wherever they travel. Secondly, business travellers are preferring to have bleisure trips, and hence, opt for accommodation that gives them a sense of both work and fun.
The new-age traveller
Everyone is trying to have an experience-worthy of social media (Facebook and Instagram). They want to show-off, and look forward to an experiential travel, which is rare and special. This is where alternative stays come into play – they have the potential to personalise and tell stories that strike a chord with the traveller. We have been creating experiences for guests to enjoy that are unique, local, and authentic such as surf lessons, guided tours, food walk, live concerts, workshops, language exchange meet-ups, among others.
Social media is key
Social media influencers – Bollywood celebrities and bloggers all play a key role in widening the popularity of homestays in India. When the young millennials are planning to take a trip there is a strong connect between the choice of destinations and people that they follow.
Local partnerships
Overtime, we have grown from outbound travel to domestic business — there is a thrust of local partnerships. Some of them are very unique to India for instance, the rural tourism. We have partnered with Self Employed Women’s Association in Gujarat, India that promotes the rights of low-income, independently-employed female workers, and conducted many workshops. This was one of the effective ways for generating employment in the region. Also, this has been a successful venture for us as we now have over 40 homestays in those rural areas. While our expansion plan majorly focusses on urban sectors, we, through these local partnerships are also targeting the underserved regions of the country.
Another case in point is our collaboration with the Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation to give guests a taste of Maharashtra’s village life.
Overall, this serves two purposes: how such models can solve local issues and also be great for our business.
