Skift Take

The pandemic boosted the growth of the already flourishing short-term rentals sub sector of the European accommodation market. It is still to be seen how the various sub sectors will compete to define the market landscape.

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Europe has upheld the position of a global leader in tourism in the past, with its international arrivals accounting for 40 percent of global international arrivals in 2019. As a result of the pandemic, international tourism arrivals in Europe dropped by 70 percent in 2020 in comparison to 2019. In 2021, Europe recorded the strongest results by region relative to 2020 with arrivals up 19 percent, though they remained 62 percent below 2019 levels.

The hospitality sector is amongst the largest and most relevant contributors of revenue and employment for both the European tourism sector and the overall European economy. 

As we mentioned in our recently published “U.S. Accommodation Sector Market Estimates 2022” report, the pandemic has affected hotels and short-term rentals, the two major sub-sectors of the accommodation industry, differently. While hotels were significantly hit, short-term rentals generally performed better. As with what’s happening elsewhere in the world, the next few years will be very crucial in shaping the state of the accommodation sector in the region with respect to the pace of recovery of different sub-sectors and general market dynamics. 

We published our latest Skift Research report on May 4. Below, we share a snippet of the report.

Revenue and Forecasts

Skift Research estimates that the accommodation sector in Europe generated revenues of €238 billion ($251 billion) in 2019, a 4.4 percent