issuing time: 25/05/2022 – 09:19
Six years after Airbnb, the world‘s largest homestay platform, entered China, it has decided to stop local domestic business from the end of July and only provide Chinese outbound travel services. US media pointed out that this is the last US Internet giant to withdraw from the Chinese market, describing it as a sign of further decoupling of China from the Internet in most parts of the world.
Airbnb co-founder Nathan Blecharczyk made an announcement on Tuesday, but did not explain the reason for the suspension of domestic travel listings, experiences and related bookings in China. However, both British and American media quoted people familiar with the situation and pointed out that in the face of strong competition from local Chinese travel platforms, such as Meituan and Ctrip, Airbnb has no advantage in terms of price and service diversification; “The policy has resulted in the closure of millions of people, severely hit the tourism industry, and made Airbnb’s business even worse.
Airbnb, which has 6 million listings globally, will remove about 150,000 of its listings in China on July 30, people familiar with the matter said. China’s lodging business revenue has accounted for only 1% of the company’s global business revenue in recent years. In fact, Airbnb has issued a risk warning to the Chinese market in its 2020 financial report, stating that the company has invested heavily in expanding its business in China, but the competition is fierce and may ultimately fail to achieve profitability in the Chinese market.
Bai Siqi added in the open letter that Chinese users, who have 20% of the world‘s population, are part of building a global network and realizing the company’s vision, but in the face of the challenges of the epidemic, “Airbnb China will strengthen its base and focus on outbound travel business. “. It is reported that Airbnb will retain the Beijing office of hundreds of employees to continue to provide services for Chinese tourists traveling abroad.
The New York Times pointed out that Airbnb is the last major American Internet company in China, and its exit highlights the growing gap between China’s Internet and the world‘s Internet. The report continued that many U.S. Internet companies have left China as the Chinese government emphasizes domestic business, implements censorship and imposes other demands on companies.
Looking through the information, as China tightens regulatory measures, the US Internet giant Yahoo (Yahoo) announced its withdrawal from the Chinese market in November last year; a month before that, Microsoft’s LinkedIn (LinkedIn) announced the closure of Chinese social media services; and Back in 2016, when Uber sold its China business to rival Didi Chuxing, it said China was a “very difficult operating environment with very little transparency.” As for Airbnb, the company’s chief trust officer, Sean Joyce, resigned after less than half a year in office in 2019, citing concerns over the Chinese government’s request to share host information with Airbnb, but the company stressed that, This is the same as other companies operating in China.