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Airbnb and Historic Villages of Portugal establish partnership to support sustainable tourism in the interior of Portugal

This agreement is part of Airbnb’s efforts to encourage more sustainable travel trends in the interior of Portugal and aims to spread the benefits of travel and tourism beyond the big cities.

Airbnb has partnered with the Portuguese non-profit association Aldeias Históricas de Portugal to promote the development of tourism in the interior of Portugal through its network of Historic Villages, including Almeida, Belmonte, Castelo Mendo, Castelo Novo, Castelo Rodrigo, Idanha- a-Velha, Linhares da Beira, Marialva, Monsanto, Piódão, Sortelha, and Trancoso.

The Historic Villages of Portugal is an excellent alternative to the more tourist places and represent an attractive option for travelers looking for a more sustainable way of traveling and centered on Heritage. The partnership aims to contribute to the distribution of tourist flows to these municipalities and surroundings; support territorial balance, diversifying the supply and demand of tourist services to less popular destinations; promote the local economy by contributing to sustainable production and consumption, leveraging sources of income together with sectors of activity that tourism, directly and indirectly, impacts positively; contribute to the reduction of seasonality and to the appreciation of endogenous resources, even promoting the length of the average stay.

As part of this collaboration, Historic Villages of Portugal and Airbnb are working together to create a page dedicated to promoting the Historic Villages Network, with useful information on what to do, places to visit, local businesses, and exceptional hosts on Airbnb who are elevating hospitality in the interior of Portugal. In addition, Airbnb will organize webinars for members of Aldeias Históricas de Portugal with information on how to become entrepreneurs in the hospitality sector through accommodation on Airbnb.

This partnership for Aldeias Históricas de Portugal is of great importance for its contribution to the materialization of the strategy defined for the Network, namely because it constitutes an impetus for the digital transition that has been one of the strategic vectors of national policy and of the European Union, and, naturally, of the Network itself.

“Airbnb is a showcase of world excellence where the destination Aldeias Históricas will benefit from its dynamics, but on the other hand it also reveals, and once again, the attractiveness of the Aldeias Históricas de Portugal brand in capitalizing on partnerships with renowned entities that can, and should, make a difference with regard to territorial cohesion. We are a destination that has already been awarded by different national and international organizations and this stage that has now begun will undoubtedly strengthen the economic and, consequently, social development of the network that represents 12 icons of our Portuguese identity”, explained Carlos Ascensão, President of the association Aldeias Históricas de Portugal.

“More than 70% of Portuguese properties on Airbnb in the Historic Houses category are located in rural areas, so we are very excited about the potential of heritage tourism to contribute to the economic development of small, non-urban communities. With this partnership, we want to provide these benefits to more people and spread the message to cities, towns, and lesser-known places across the country”, said Mónica Casañas, General Manager of Airbnb Marketing Services SL.

Hosting on Airbnb helps families earn extra income. According to an internal study by Airbnb, and contrary to the assumption that most accommodation in Portugal belongs mainly to large real estate speculators and is located in large urban centers, 9 out of 10 hosts in Portugal say that the space they list is owned them or their family in 2022[1]. The accommodation was and continues to be fundamental to the economic recovery and growth of the country and is spread throughout the country, from the big cities to the smallest villages: in 2022, almost 2/3 of short-term stays booked on Airbnb in Portugal they were outside Porto, and Lisbon[2], demonstrating that they are also inducing the creation of approaches that make rehabilitation possible, an example of which is the Rede Aldeias Históricas de Portugal.

Decreasing the concentration of tourist flows According to new data released by Airbnb in June 2023, during 2022 guests stayed in more than 100,000 different cities and towns around the world. The number of communities around the world where guests stay has increased by more than 25 percent in 2022 compared to five years ago, spreading tourism to new and different destinations. As of March 2020, more than 13,000 cities around the world have received their first booking on Airbnb. This trend was also reflected in Airbnb’s 2022 report “How Airbnb Supports Sustainable Travel In Europe”[3], which showed that guests using Airbnb’s flexible search tools book less frequently in Airbnb’s top 20 destinations in Europe (-17.5%)and more often in lesser visited communities ranked outside Airbnb’s top 400 destinations (+35.5%) when compared to guests who book through traditional Airbnb search.

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