Woman Using Airbnb on Tablet — Courtesy: Shutterstock — Daniel Krason
According to Airbnb, Florida destinations are major travel hotspots this summer. The company made the announcement on Wednesday after seeing signs that people are anxious to travel again after the pandemic.
Six Florida areas placed in the Top 10 trending summer domestic travel destinations when American guests searched in the first quarter, the company said.
The No. 1 trending spot was the Sunshine State’s very own Walton County. The other Florida hotspots on the list were Cape San Blas (No. 2); Mexico Beach (No. 3); Fort Myers (No. 4); Cape Coral (No. 6); and at (No. 9), Four Corners, which is in the surrounding areas of Orange, Lake, Polk, and Osceola counties in Central Florida.
During the pandemic, more people are booking Airbnb stays for long-term vacations. During the first quarter, long-term stays hit a record high, doubling compared to the same period in 2019. For every five nights that are booked, one of them was a long-term stay on the platform, said Airbnb.
“The world has changed, and in 2022 people are traveling differently than they ever have before. Because of remote work, people are spreading out to thousands of towns and cities. Airbnb guests have already planned stays in over 72,000 cities and towns this summer,” Airbnb said in a press release.
During the pandemic, the travel sector was hit hard since many people were ordered to stay at home and were frightened about the virus’s dangers before the vaccine became widely accessible. People will be eager for holidays again by summer 2022. Domestic and international Airbnb bookings have returned to pre-pandemic levels in 2019, according to the website.
“Domestic travel is strong and represents more than half of the nights booked in the first quarter of 2022 for summer stays and exceeds Q1 2019 levels,” Airbnb said in the press release. “International travel has recovered to pre-pandemic levels and continues to grow, with more nights booked for international summer stays compared to Q1 2021.”
Airbnb recently announced that it was taking steps in cracking down on unauthorized parties during Memorial Day and Fourth of July weekends. One of those measures includes prohibiting guests who lack a history of good reviews from making one-night reservations in entire home listings during those summer holidays, the company disclosed earlier this month.
Of course, Airbnb whole-house rentals are only adding to Orlando’s ongoing housing issue crisis, which has reached levels that convinced legislators to ask for the declaration of a state of emergency.
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