The Airbnb chief executive predicted on Thursday that travelers would start looking for smaller cities than large cities in the future due to the coronavirus pandemic.
CEO Brian Chesky said more people will choose to drive in smaller communities and spend more time visiting family and friends than traveling to big cities to visit sights. He also predicted that people would use less air travel for business meetings, according to Reuters.
Travel declined during the coronavirus pandemic, as home orders and social warrants forced people around the world to stay in their homes. Many Americans have refrained from seeing their families and friends for fear of spreading or contracting the virus from their loved ones.
Chesky said people were “longing for what was taken from them.”
“I don’t want to see Times Square,” Chesky said in an interview with Reuters Next. “What they want to do is see their friends and family they haven’t seen in a long time.”
At the beginning of the pandemic, the Airbnb business fell by 80% in almost eight weeks, according to the press. However, after several cities began easing restrictions and reopening business, the company began to see more travelers booking homes over hotels.
Many of these rental homes were in small towns, as opposed to larger cities, Reuters reported.
Airbnb recently announced it will cancel reservations made in Washington, DC, during President-elect’s week Joe Biden
Joe BidenCotton: Senate has no authority to dismissthe inauguration following the insurrection at the Capitol, on January 6.
The service banned people connected to last week’s violent Capitol riot from renting on its platform.