Airbnb Says It Hosted a Record 17 Million Guests This Summer

The number of travelers staying at Airbnb accommodations this summer more than doubled over the same period last year, and it is growth from Asia that helped make this summer the company's biggest yet.

Some 17 million travelers from around the world stayed with Airbnb hosts in 150 countries this summer from May to the end of August, according to a summer metrics report Airbnb released today. And that number hasn't topped-off: According to the company another 1 million travelers booked Airbnb stays for this Labor Day weekend in the U.S. The number of summer guests swelled from 7.4 million last summer to more than twice that amount this summer.

Airbnb guests from Paris, New York City and Seoul were this summer's largest source markets and they made the most bookings for Lisbon, Upstate New York, and Osaka, Japan, respectively.

South Korea, along with Japan and Singapore, are the company's fastest growing markets overall and China is one of the fastest-growing markets in terms of country of origin for travelers booking stays outside their country.

Source: Airbnb

The report reveals the average age of this summer's Airbnb guests was 35 years old, which is considered the oldest age for millennials, and female guests slightly outnumbered male guests--the split was 54% to 46% globally. An Airbnb spokesperson told Skift this ratio is fairly consistent with past summers as well.

Cuba and Philadelphia are two of Airbnb's fastest-growing markets based on the growth of number of hosts and guest bookings during the past six months, due to relaxed travel bans for American travelers to Cuba and Pope Francis' upcoming visit to both Cuba and Philadelphia later this month.