Airbnb is the latest internet platform to opt out of the mainland China market, pulling all of the country’s listings and experiences this summer.
The vacation rental firm announced its plans via Chinese social network WeChat, citing “pandemic challenges,” according to the Financial Times.
“Airbnb China will consolidate and focus on the outbound tourism business,” co-founder Nathan Blecharczyk wrote in a letter posted to the company’s WeChat account, adding that local users may still book listings and experiences abroad.
Since its 2016 launch in the East Asian country, Airbnb faced competition and high costs—even before the COVID-19 outbreak; domestic stays over the past few years have accounted for only about 1% of revenue.
In an effort to compete with regional services like Tujia and Xiaozhu, Airbnb in 2017 rebranded its Chinese subsidiary as “Aibiying,” which translates to “welcome each other with love.” The Mandarin-friendly name clearly wasn’t enough to compete with strict COVID policies and a downshift in travel.
The San Francisco-based company’s presence in China, meanwhile, sparked debate about online safety. Then-Chief Trust Officer Sean Joyce, a former deputy director of the FBI, resigned in 2020—six months into his post—over concerns about sharing Airbnb users’ data with Chinese authorities, The Wall Street JournalThe Wall Street Journal reported at the time.
Airbnb follows in the footsteps of tech firms like Uber, which exited China in 2016 in exchange for stakes in rival businesses, and LinkedIn, shut down last year by Microsoft amid censorship controversies. The country isn’t exactly known for its easy-going ways when it comes to cyberspace. It scored 10 on the 2021 Freedom House Freedom on the Net report, which assigns countries a number between zero (no internet freedom) and 100 (complete internet freedom). Russia, where Airbnb recently suspended operations, earned a 30, landing in 11th place on the list.
Source: diymag.com
