Monthly change in rental bookings through OTAs due to COVID-19 2020-2022

Short term rental bookings through Airbnb and Booking saw a decline that began towards the end of 2020. The travel and tourism industry was one of the worst hit by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, however, Airbnb did see a growth in bookings in January 2022 of 17 percent and in the same month Booking saw a decline of only 17 percent.

Which are the leading OTAs?

In recent years, the travel industry’s online presence has grown considerably, and travelers are now able to book trips themselves online through OTAs. The leading OTAs worldwide by revenue included Booking, Expedia, Airbnb, and Trip.com. Airbnb in particular has grown rapidly in recent years. In 2021, Airbnb’s revenue worldwide was nearly six billion U.S. dollars.

How did COVID-19 impact travel and OTAs?

In addition to the reduction in bookings experienced by leading OTAs in 2020 due to COVID-19, the travel industry as a whole was also forecasted to suffer a considerable decrease in revenue. As many countries enacted stay at home orders and travel restrictions, the change in revenue in the travel and tourism industry worldwide due to COVID-19 led to a decrease of over 40 percent from original forecasts for 2020’s revenue.