Airbnb still locked down in SA, but there are IPO plans in the US – Wall Street Journal

Airbnb in the United States is close to filing to go public in a move that underscores a surprising rebound for the home-sharing giant and the IPO market.

Published on:

12 Aug 2020, 2:05 pm

In 2019, BizNews reported that South Africans who had taken advantage of Airbnb to generate revenue from their homes and holiday homes were fretting about the government's move to regulate the home-rental market. Their worry was the Tourism Amendment Bill, saying that it would devastate the industry, artificially raise prices, and infringe on ownership rights. Fast forward a year and it is fair to say Airbnb operators in this country have other things on their mind. Along with other hospitality venues, the service was shut down during the Covid-19 lockdown, and in June was excluded from the list of travel destinations allowed to reopen under advanced level three lockdown regulations. At the time the company said it had generated an estimated R8.7 billion for SA's economy from June 2017 to May 2018. Those figures pale in comparison to the US market, where Airbnb reported $4.8 billion in revenue in 2019. The company is now preparing to go public as it rebounds from the effects of the pandemic. On July 8 alone, guests booked more than one million nights of future stays at Airbnb listings around the world, the company says. May some of that business be coming South Africa's way soon! – Renee Moodie