Airbnb 'worth €3 million to the Westmeath economy'

Travel on Airbnb was worth €3 million to the Westmeath economy in 2022.

That's according to a new independent report from Oxford Economics, commissioned by Airbnb.

In Westmeath alone, the total number of guest nights booked on Airbnb in 2022 was 31,000.

Guest spending in Westmeath for 2022 was valued at €3 million, distributing the economic benefits of tourism beyond just local hosts, to local businesses, shops and restaurants.

A total of 60 jobs were linked to Airbnb in the county, and over 140 jobs in the wider Midlands region.

Travel on Airbnb draws hundreds of thousands of people to the country each year, showcasing one-of-a-kind accommodation in places that visitors might otherwise not see. This activity contributes millions to the visitor economy and has become a vital part of the Irish tourism sector.

The report highlights how home sharing continues to create significant economic benefits for families and communities in Westmeath, as well as the wider tourism economy, particularly in distributing tourism to rural and lesser-visited parts of Ireland.

Travel on Airbnb in Ireland provides a sizeable share of the country’s accommodation offering, accounting for 6% of all nights in paid accommodation in the country in 2022.

Airbnb-linked spending represented 10.5% of all international tourism-related spending across Ireland, and the report values Airbnb’s total contribution to Ireland’s GDP at over €500 million in 2022.

Midlands

The report also states that the spending footprint attributable to Airbnb guests in the Midlands region was worth €7 million to Ireland’s GDP.

As many nights were stayed in the South-West as in Dublin, and the West region is similarly not far behind the capital. Airbnb-related economic activity in Dublin was valued at €152 million, accounting for 30% of the total nationally, but this was closely followed by activity in South-West counties of Kerry and Cork which was valued at €107 million.

Employment linked to Airbnb activity accounted for around 5% of total tourism employment in 2022. In total, almost 5,000 jobs were supported by activity on Airbnb across Ireland last year, with the hospitality and tourism, food and beverage services, arts and entertainment, and transport sectors all benefiting from activity on the platform.

The West of Ireland saw the largest proportion of Airbnb-linked employment last year, with more than 1,200 jobs supported by activity on the platform. This is followed by the South-West with over 870 and the Border Region at 860. In Dublin, more than 860 jobs were supported by Airbnb in 2022.