Airbnb’s CEO predicted on Thursday that travelers will start looking for smaller cities instead of large cities in the future due to the coronavirus pandemic.
CEO Brian Chesky said more people will choose to drive to smaller communities and spend more time visiting family and friends than traveling to big cities for tourism. He also predicted that people would use air travel less for business meetings, according to Reuters.
Travel declined during the coronavirus pandemic, as orders to stay home and social distance forced people around the world to stay at home. Many Americans refrain from seeing their families and friends for fear of spreading or contracting the virus to their loved ones.
Chesky expressed that people “yearn for what has been taken from them”.
“They don’t want to see Times Square,” said Chesky during an interview at the Reuters Next conference. “What they want is to see their friends and families that they haven’t seen in a long time.”
At the beginning of the pandemic, Airbnb’s business plummeted 80% in almost eight weeks, according to the vehicle. However, after more cities began to ease restrictions and reopen business, the company began to see more travelers booking homes instead of hotels.
Many of these rented houses were in small towns, as opposed to larger cities, Reuters reported.
Airbnb recently announced that it would cancel reservations made in Washington, DC, during President-elect week Joe Biden
Joe BidenCotton: The Senate lacks the authority to hold the impeachment trial when Trump leaves office Marjorie Taylor Greene says he will present impeachment articles against Biden ICE that the incumbent director resigns weeks after taking office MOREThe inauguration after the Capitol insurrection on January 6.
The service banned people connected to last week’s violent riot on Capitol Hill from renting its platform.