May 10, 2022
As flexibility becomes a permanent part of so many company cultures, Airbnb wants to make it easier for workers to take advantage of their newly enshrined flexibility. With more than 6 million listings worldwide, the platform launched last Thursday its “Live and Work Anywhere” program, an ongoing initiative to continue working with governments and DMOs to create a one-stop-shop for remote workers, and encourage them to try new locations to work, while helping to revive tourism and provide economic support to communities after years of travel restrictions.
For the Caribbean region, Airbnb found that:
- The share of nights booked for long term stays in Q1 2022 almost doubled compared to the same period in 2019.
- In Q1 2019, almost 6% of all bookings were for long term stays, while in Q1 2022 this percentage reached almost 10%.
- The number of nights booked for long term stays tripled in Q1’22 compared to Q1’19.
With this being said, Airbnb and the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) have partnered to promote the Caribbean as a viable destination to live and work anywhere, through the launch of their “Work from the Caribbean” campaign. This Campaign is designed to highlight and promote the various destinations through a landing page that provides information on digital nomad visas for each respective country, and also highlights the best Airbnb options to stay in and work from. This promotional landing page will be unique to others worldwide and will highlight the following 16 participating destinations as options for Digital Nomads: Anguilla, Antigua & Barbuda, Barbados, Belize, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Guyana, Martinique, Montserrat, St. Eustatius, St. Kitts, St. Lucia, St. Maarten, Trinidad.
“The steady recovery of Caribbean tourism has been driven by innovation and a willingness to seize opportunities, like the rise of digital nomads and development of long stay programmes to diversify the visitor experience in the region. The CTO is pleased that Airbnb has identified the Caribbean as one to highlight in its global Live and Work Anywhere program, and in doing so, support the continued success of the region”.- Faye Gill, CTO Director, Membership Services
“Airbnb is proud to partner again with the CTO in order to keep promoting different destinations in the Caribbean so people can work and travel within. This campaign is a new joint effort that will continue to help with the promotion of the wonderful region”. – Airbnb Policy Manager for Central America and the Caribbean Carlos Muñoz
This partnership is one of the many initiatives in the CTO’s ongoing programme to help its members rebuild tourism and shine a light on digital nomad programmes in their destinations.