Airbnb is closing down its business inside of China indefinitely.
Airbnb today told its China-based users that it would cease taking all bookings on its site from July 30 due to the continuous lockdowns and travel restrictions.
The ability to book dates for accommodation as well as experience in China beyond July 29 was suspended today after their announcement.
Airbnb’s domestic business in China has reportedly been suffering due to the ongoing pandemic restrictions, and because there is no indication that authorities intend to move towards normalcy while there is still Covid. China has a zero-Covid policy, and has made no indication that it plans to change this policy. This means lockdowns and closed borders are expected to continue in China.
A wave of Omicron cases spread across China over the past couple of months, leading for the Chinese government to double down on its policy of eliminating Covid.
Major cities, including Shanghai and Beijing, have been subjected to intense city-wide or localized lockdowns. Widespread travel restrictions remain in place between cities and provinces internally in China as well.
Airbnb has operated inside China since 2016. Since then, about 25 million guests have booked on the accommodation site. However, it is costly and complex to operate, and it faces strong local competition. Covid has worsened the issues and heightened the impact of the virus on the industry.
The news trended on the Weibo social media platform, which is China’s version of Twitter. Many comments focused on how little of share of the market Airbnb actually held in the country, even before the pandemic.
But as the rest of the world reopens, Airbnb has claimed it reached a record high number of bookings in the first quarter of this year, and that they see huge pent-up demand.
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