Is Airbnb Adding To Nigeria's Business Growth Like In South Africa?

These days, everyone seems to be enjoying the concept of staying in other people’s homes for a fee. There are many emerging sites that offer this kind of service. But the Californian company Airbnb, which began in 2008, is by far the biggest one today. In 2010, Airbnb took its business to Africa, and South Africa was the first country to be included.

So far Airbnb has had 3.5 million customers visiting Africa’s listed homes. The overall GDP of Africa, which has seen a surge in the past years, has been positively impacted by tourism. Airbnb happens to be a significant player in boosting this sector. South Africa, Morrocco, and Kenya are among the countries that have experienced growth in tourism heightened by Airbnb. However, we can not say the same for Nigeria where Airbnb reported that their bookings increased with about 325% in 2018. Does this translate to more jobs and a boost in Nigeria’s tourism sector like in other countries?

Africa Airbnb Business — Airbnb has drawn many Europeans to Africa these last years (Photo: Unsplash/Austin Ban)

South Africa has more bookings on Airbnb than any other African country. For South Africa alone, Airbnb reports state that $678 million were added to the country’s economy in 2018. This has resulted in several Airbnb hosts in the country who are able to make their rental business a full-time job. The country boasts of more than 22,000 jobs supported by the rental platform.

Airbnb hosting is not as lucrative for the Nigerian hosts as it is for their South African, Kenyan and Moroccan counterparts. Compared to other countries in Africa where Airbnb operates, there are several limitations to the growth of this business in Nigeria:

Europeans and Americans, who are the biggest users of Airbnb listings in Africa, want the opportunity to experience a country safely. South Africa is considered one of Africa’s safest countries. Nigeria may not be ready to offer travelers that sense of security just yet. Furthermore, the few tourists who do travel to Nigeria will usually prefer to stay at a hotel where they will feel safer.
It is mostly the Nigerian diaspora who are visiting Airbnb listings in the country. They are the ones fueling the growth of Airbnb in Nigeria so far.
Dozens of Airbnb hosts in Nigeria also complain of not being able to add a payment method on Airbnb, a complaint we believe Airbnb is yet to respond to. This is preventing several potential Nigerian hosts from even getting started on hosting guests.

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