Not building walls – Airbnb forms tourism ties with Africa, El Salvador, Haiti
By cameron in Uncategorized
When Donald Trump reportedly had a few choice words to describe a number of destinations recently, some companies, such as Airbnb, decided to get behind those places.
Airbnb put not only its money where its mouth is, via a “six-figure” digital ad campaign but also reached out to the governments of Haiti and El Salvador to sign Memorandum of Understanding-type agreements, to promote tourism to those destinations, share data and establish a working group to look at ways to improve tourism infrastructure.
The peer-to-peer accommodation marketplace says this is about an open “world where anyone can belong anywhere”. It also makes reference to not building walls.
Haiti’s president has been reported recently as saying Trump’s remarks have set back tourism in the country.
Many citizens took to Twitter and other social media channels to highlight the beauty of those destinations.
Hey #ShitHolePresident ! Here is what my #shithole looks like pic.twitter.com/CDIHKeYqCH
— Harold Isaac (@haroldisaac) January 12, 2018
It’s a marketing campaign typically clever of the new breed of asset-light, nimble companies that react quickly to world and domestic events.
The company points to its numbers which show that hosts in Haiti, El Salvador, and Africa earned $170 million last year by sharing their homes with travelers.
Late last year, in a report demonstrating the positive impact of home sharing in Africa, Airbnb said it had more than 100,000 listings there.