According to Siew Kum Hong, regional director for Airbnb in the Asia Pacific, China is poised to become Airbnb’s largest market by next year.
Strong growth in early 2019 helped the Asia Pacific region account for half of Airbnb’s top 20 most-visited global destinations. During the same period, Airbnb Experiences expanded dramatically, growing from just 10 locations at the start of 2018 to more than 500 cities and towns across the region.
Within Asia Pacific, China has stood out as a top destination for travelers. The number of Airbnb guests in China doubled in 2018 and continued to grow rapidly in 2019, reflecting rising demand and wider adoption of the platform.
Kum Hong credits this success to several factors: a focus on high-quality listings, a skilled and committed local workforce, and a dedicated Airbnb product and engineering team based in China—the only such team outside North America. Localizing the service has also been important. Airbnb in China integrates with popular domestic communication apps such as WeChat and supports local payment methods like WeChat Pay and Alipay, simplifying transactions for hosts and guests alike.
With quality controls, localized technology and payments, and strong local teams in place, China appears well positioned to become Airbnb’s strongest and largest market in 2020.