Airbnb meets with Caribbean government reps: Travel Weekly

The Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) and government representatives
from eight member countries met with Airbnb officials to discuss Airbnb’s
growing presence in the region and to address areas of mutual cooperation as
outlined in an agreement signed in February.

According to the CTO, the sharing economy is driven by
consumers who decide with their pocketbooks what they want to do and where they
want to stay in the Caribbean.

“It is our responsibility to speak with Airbnb and
other players in the sector to get the maximum benefit from this phenomenon,”
said CTO Secretary General Hugh Riley.

Discussions covered safety and security, standards,
policies, the importance of the region’s cultural heritage, and how Airbnb is
expanding economic opportunities in the region, said Riley.

Airbnb and CTO will share aggregate data and research,
explore ways to make the sharing economy more inclusive and develop a set of
policy principles and recommendations.

“Those are factors that we were able to cover and we
are extremely happy for the level of interaction between our members and
Airbnb,” Riley said.

Currently there are 41,000 Airbnb listings across the
Caribbean and a typical host in the Caribbean earns approximately $3,900 a
year.

“We view this as a first step in building a lasting
partnership that will democratize travel, create thousands of entrepreneurs and
allow a greater segment of the Caribbean to truly benefit from tourism,”
said Shawn Sullivan, Airbnb’s public policy director for Central America and
the Caribbean.

Earlier this year Anguilla, Bermuda, Curacao and Jamaica
each signed partnership agreements with Airbnb that outlined similar goals.