CONTINUED FROM BACK COVER
“We noticed we were growing possibly a little too quickly in 2012-13,” he said. “We took steps in 2013-14 to let hosts know what we expect of them. We ask people why they get into it [renting out rooms] and use natural-language filtering on their reasons. ‘We want to make money’ responses have gone down over the past two years.” Cederskog also rejected a suggestion about a lack of safety or security. He said: “Airbnb is one of the most transparent and safest sites. You can’t interact with Airbnb as a user or host without being registered. You can’t operate if not safe and secure.”
He said Airbnb would not have grown so explosively without the financial meltdown and housing crisis, but insisted it was wrong to believe the site competed only on price. Cederskog told the forum: “All companies have a huge element of luck. For Airbnb, it was the financial crisis and the housing crisis that had a huge impact. A lot of people found themselves with mortgages they could not afford. They put up rooms on Airbnb to make some rent.” The key to the platform’s explosive
growth was “a fundamental shift in the way the consumer works”, he said. “The consumer is changing. People want to experience what a city is truly like. This is the biggest, fundamental change. Consumers want to experience a city feeling they can be part of it, that they can belong anywhere.” He added: “Technology has been
essential, but what is most important is solving consumer needs. Smartphones have been a driver for us. Tied to the smartphone is the prevalence of social networks. Plus, we have been able to plug into global payments and content delivery. The timing has been fortunate. Ten years ago, it would have been difficult to build Airbnb. “[Now] we see very strong growth [and] Europe is 50% of our business. Marriott wanted to add 20,000 rooms last year. We added 20,000 rooms in one- and-a-half weeks.” But he added: “We still aren’t a big player.”
THE WORLD TOURISM FORUM WILL MOVE FROM A BIENNIAL TO AN ANNUAL EVENT NEXT YEAR WITH THE 2016 FORUM TO BE HELD IN BEIJING. THE DATE HAS YET TO BE CONFIRMED.
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travelweekly.co.uk — 30 April 2015
travelweeklybusiness WORLD TOURISM FORUM 2015: Academics and industry delegates
GROWTH: DECLINING GLOBAL PRODUCTIVITY AND UNEMPLOYMENT TO CAUSE SLOWDOWN Jeremy Rifkin
Travel and tourism growth figures are poised to stall as a result of declining global productivity, according to US social theorist and advisor to governments Jeremy Rifkin. But he suggested this period of stagnation could herald a “third industrial revolution”, which would transform the world economy and travel. Rifkin told the World Tourism Forum: “GDP is slowing all over the world. Productivity is waning all over the world. Unemployment is stubbornly high in every country – and no industry is more affected than travel and tourism.” He warned: “You rely on the health of every other industry. Your growth figures will slow over the next 20 years.” The UN World Tourism Organisation has
forecast travel numbers will grow to 1.8 billion by 2030, up from 1.1 billion in 2014. Yet Rifkin insisted: “We’re at the beginning of a very long sunset, [although] we can glimpse the sunrise.” The peak in oil prices in 2008 had marked the end of an era, he said, arguing: “Your industry started to shut down in the summer of 2008.” Rifkin added: “You can have all the innovations of Silicon Valley, but if they are plugged into the old economy [based on oil and car use], it is not going to increase productivity.”
SMARTPHONES: ‘NO LINK BETWEEN AGE AND BOOKINGS’
Age-based assumptions about travellers’ use of smartphones is “unhelpful”, according to research. Dr Andreas Liebrich, e-tourism specialist at the
University of Lucerne, told the World Tourism Forum: “There is no correlation between age and smartphone bookings.” Liebrich reported on a study of smartphone use among travellers in the UK, Germany and France, with more than 1,000 consumers surveyed in each. He said: “Our results show that when it comes to mobile behaviour and adoption of new technology, inter-generational behaviour is narrowing more than we think. Age segmentation is not helpful. We could see some differences by market, but they were not significant. During the booking journey, there was no clear correlation to age. The
However, he suggested we are in the throes of a “third industrial revolution” based on the convergence of new technology, sources of power and forms of transport (driverless cars and trains). Rifkin said: “Within 25 years, millions of people
will produce their own energy and share it over the grid.” He argued: “Certain industries – music and TV – have ruptured already. The sharing economy is going to eliminate a lot of goods and services from the capitalist economy.” But Rifkin said the new economy could “dramatically increase productivity and reduce costs”, adding: “You need to create a roadmap for travel and tourism.”
biggest difference was between light users of smartphones and heavy users. “In the travel planning phase, it does not make sense to target smartphone users by age.” Researchers also looked at responses to
promotions and flash sales. Liebrich said: “We could not identify a difference between generations, but when we looked at behaviour, there was a clear pattern. Heavy users of smartphones were way more comfortable with ‘push offers’ than lighter users.”
Dr Andreas Liebrich
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