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6 May 2020updated 06 Oct 2020 9:45am

Airbnb bookings rebound as Europeans prepare for post-crisis holidays

By Samuel Horti

Airbnb bookings from Danish users are now at 90 per cent of their April 2019 levels, while bookings in the Netherlands are at 80 per cent, signalling Europeans are preparing for post-pandemic holidays.

The company is cutting 25 per cent of its workforce and expects its revenue to halve in 2020, but chief executive Brian Chesky told the Financial Times that bookings in Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and Austria have also improved.

“The recovery is better than what we had forecast even two weeks ago,” he said, adding that he didn’t know whether the recovery was temporary or permanent.

The news comes as some European leaders hinted that people would be allowed to go on holiday this summer. Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said he hoped people would be able to enjoy a summer holiday, while Germany’s tourism commissioner Thomas Bareiss said that, if the outbreak stays under control, people would be holidaying “in the next four to eight weeks”.

 

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