How Destinations Can Benefit From The Rise In Remote Workers

How communities benefit from the increasing numbers of remote workers

In July 2021, Airbnb began partnering with 20 remote worker-friendly destinations worldwide to help revive their local tourism and economy. The data and experiences gathered from the first batch of participating communities were used as the basis for Airbnb’s recently published guide for governments and destination marketing organizations. The guide outlines how different communities can benefit from the increase in remote workers.

Nathan Blecharczyk, Co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer at Airbnb recommends that “Where policy-makers once had to fight to attract entire companies (or even industries), today governments and destination marketing organizations must consider how to recruit individuals and families who can work remotely and how to ensure that the benefits of remote work are felt by the wider community” and that “The best approach is one that not only attracts remote workers, but also integrates them into communities so that all residents can benefit from this rising trend”

The surge of remote workers since the pandemic

Long-term stays, stays of at least 28 days, have been gaining momentum on Airbnb since 2019 and are the effect of the rising trend of remote workers exploring new locations. And the socio-economic impact that this creates on destinations must not be overlooked.

For example, Tulsa launched a remote worker incentive program in 2018, encouraging remote workers and business to relocate to the city for at least a year. This initiative showed tremendous success, generating nearly 20 millions USD in additional local gross domestic product, 1.6 million USD in induced state and local tax revenue in 2021, and every dollar spent on the incentive program resulted in 2.38 USD in new induced labor income locally.

Airbnb’s Guide to Live and Work Anywhere

For destinations to benefit from the remote work setup, Airbnb’s Guide to Live and Work Anywhere highlights the following recommendations:

• Improving visa processes and streamlining tax compliance

• Encouraging remote workers to support local businesses

• Immersing remote workers and their families into host neighborhoods

The remote work “revolution” presents immense potential to small cities and rural communities that have been greatly affected by macroeconomic trends in the last few decades. One would think that the pandemic immobilized the world but the data from Airbnb shows otherwise. It reported that over 8,100 cities and towns from across the globe, 1,300 of which are in the US, have received their first-ever Airbnb bookings since the pandemic began in March 2020.

Rural areas continued to thrive on the Airbnb platform as the domestic nights booked by US guests in lesser know towns grew 110 percent in 2021 as compared to 2019. Moreover, Airbnb Hosts in rural US counties earned over 3.5 Billion USD over the year.

You can download and read the guide here.

Partner destinations

There is no stopping Airbnb from unceasingly evolving the remote work experience for all its guests, hosts, and host communities. The opening of more destination hubs in the 20 partner destinations continues as dedicated remote work hubs in Tampa Bay and Tulsa were activated earlier this month. While the ones located in Salzkammergut (Austria), Thailand, Cape Town (South Africa), and Friuli Venezia Giulia (Italy) are scheduled for launching later this month.

One local economy at a time

Remote work undeniably paved the way to a new world of travel, one that introduced the live-and-work anywhere lifestyle to many. The remote work incentive program of Tulsa is a feat worthy of emulation if one is serious about providing local economic growth. With Airbnb’s recent guides and continuous rollout of partner destination hubs worldwide, one community can hope for its local economy to grow day by day.