Online booking platforms continue to grow in Europe, in spite of several Member States imposing specific bans on short-term rentals to fight long-term accommodation shortages.
As reported by the European Union’s Agency for statistics, Eurostat, the data shows that in the first half of 2023, the online platforms for booking short-term rental accommodations have been used by 237 million guests in the European Union. Whereas in the second quarter of 2023, guests spent 153 million nights in short-term rental accommodations.
This is a significant growth compared with 2022 (199 million nights; +18.8 per cent); with nights spent far exceeding pre-pandemic levels (193 million nights in 2019; +22.6 per cent).
The growth of online platforms in 2023 is no coincidence, as SchengenVisaInfo reported last year, in July 2022, that the number of nights booked for tourism via accommodation rental platforms such as Airbnb, Expedia Group, Tripadvisor and Booking increased by 34 per cent in 2021 compared to the previous year, indicating that the usage of online booking platforms is increasing rapidly.
The trend has continued this year, as according to Eurostat data, compared to April last year, in the same month of 2023, there was a 19.05 per cent increase in the nights spent by guests in online short-term rental booking, making it possible for online booking to reach 46.7 million nights of guests reserving accommodations.
In addition, there was also a 22.6 per cent increase in May of 2023 in comparison with the same month last year. In the first five months of 2023, there were already 47.6 million nights spent by guests in online booking accommodations.
Moreover, in June 2023, the number reached 58.7 million nights spent by guests booking online short-term rental accommodations. As a result, from June 2022 to June 2023 there was an 8.4 per cent growth in online bookings.
In total, 153 million nights were spent by guests booking through online platforms, between April and June 2023. This is an increase of 15.9 per cent compared to the previous year.
The same source also reported 42 million- night bookings in France between 2019 and 2021, thanks to online travel platforms. This growth is also reflected in the first quarter of 2023, with France’s Rhône-Alpes region becoming the top choice for short-term rentals, with 5.2 million nights spent in online booking platforms for this location.
According to a previous study published by the European Commission, the leading Online Travel Agents for hotel booking in the EU are Booking.com and Expedia.
