Hosts and guests of Airbnb can now access the platform in Xhosa, Zulu and Swahili for the first time, alongside 28 additional languages.
Airbnb is the world’s largest online marketplace for unique and authentic places to stay and things to do, offering over 7-million accommodations and 40 000 handcrafted activities, all powered by local hosts.
Approximately six guests check into a listing on Airbnb every second. And these check-ins are happening around the world: In 2011, there were 12 cities with more than 1 000 listings on Airbnb; today, nearly 1 000 cities have more than 1 000 listings on Airbnb.
Similarly, in 2011 only one city welcomed over 100 000 guest arrivals in listings on Airbnb, but in the past year, more than 300 cities have welcomed over 100 000 guest arrivals.
While Airbnb is already used in more than 191 countries and regions around the world, the company is constantly working to make the platform accessible to more people.
Recently, the company doubled the number of languages in which hosts and guests can use Airbnb. Now supporting 62 languages – including Xhosa, Zulu and Swahili – the Airbnb platform is accessible to more than 4-billion native speakers. With these new languages, the company is working to bring economic opportunity to even more hosts, and making it easier for more guests to experience travel that is local, authentic and unique.
In South Africa, there are more than 20 000 listings on the platform and home sharing continues to bring a wealth of benefits to the local economy, tourism industry and communities. Recently released data by Airbnb shows that more than 2-million guests have stayed in homes listed on Airbnb in South Africa since 2008.
Also, in 2018 alone, the estimated direct economic impact of Airbnb in the country was more than R8,7-billion which would be the equivalent of 22 000 jobs across South Africa
Airbnb’s country manager for South Africa, Velma Corcoran, says: “I am delighted that the Airbnb community can now access Airbnb in Xhosa, Zulu and Swahili. Home sharing can help regular people create new economic opportunities for themselves in the homes and communities they live in, especially those who live in under-resourced areas. With Airbnb now supporting Xhosa and Zulu, I hope more potential hosts in some of South Africa’s biggest under-resourced areas consider the real economic opportunity of becoming a tourism entrepreneur.”