Airbnb

The shared economy phenomenon Airbnb has been amongst the most disruptive developments in tourism over the last ten years (Guttentag, 2013). The Airbnb platform allows non-tourism professionals to become hosts and rent their apartments to guests. Founded in 2008, Airbnb has since shown exponential growth and provoked a variety of economic policy reactions worldwide.
Increasingly, Airbnb is also becoming a reality in WA. Despite the (potential) impact of Airbnb on WA tourism and the wider economy, data on the size and impact of the phenomenon is scant. The project aims to collect these data to inform economic and tourism policy debates and is thus supported by key WA government agencies (see attached letters from the Department of the Premier and Cabinet as well as Tourism WA).