Airbnb South Africa has partnered with the Waterberg District Municipality and organisations in the Waterberg region to empower a new generation of entrepreneurs in Limpopo, through its home-sharing platform.
As part of the three-year commitment, Airbnb says it is expanding its Entrepreneurship Academy to the Waterberg region in Limpopo, in support of the President’s District Development Model.
The presidential pilot project is designed to bring together government and private partners to tackle poverty, inequality and unemployment at the district municipality level.
The Airbnb Entrepreneurship Academy is a skills development programme for women and youth in township and rural communities, who are interested in tourism. The academy gives attendees the skills, practical tools and support they need to use technology to access and succeed on the Airbnb platform as tourism entrepreneurs.
According to the company, the programme will promote the region to help build the local tourism economy, while developing skills for local families to open their homes and benefit from tourism growth and the biodiversity economy.
In addition to the Waterberg District Municipality, local partnerships have been signed with sustainable development training organisation The Biosphere Reserve and the Lapalala Wilderness School, which focuses on teaching conservation and sustainability.
“As the cost of living crisis bites, it is critically important that we continue to lower the barriers to becoming a tourism entrepreneur to ensure everyone can benefit from tourism,” says Velma Corcoran, regional lead for Middle East Africa at Airbnb.
“We’re truly excited to be working collaboratively with such strong partners at a local level, looking to embrace the changes in travel. We believe the Waterberg is a pilot region for this way of working, which we will aim to scale and activate in other areas, in order to create a more diverse and inclusive tourism economy.”
The first Airbnb Entrepreneurship Academy Bootcamp was held in Modimolle in the Waterberg region on 31 May and 1 June, attended by 25 tourism entrepreneurs from across the district.
Airbnb was founded in California, US, in August 2008. South Africans began hosting accommodation on Airbnb in 2010, and by 2019, Airbnb had around 45 500 active home hosts locally.
The home-sharing platform this week released a report based on a survey of 1 800 South African hosts and guests on Airbnb South Africa. Among the findings, the survey highlights that the typical South African host earns just over R26 000 annually by renting their space on Airbnb – equivalent to approximately one month’s additional pay (side hustle pay) for the average income earner.
It also reveals that one in five South African hosts work in education, healthcare or hospitality. Two-thirds of hosts are women and one-quarter are over 60 years of age.
A 2021 report from Genesis Analytics highlighted Airbnb’s contribution to the inclusive growth of tourism, with travel on the platform contributing more than R8 billion to the South African economy and supporting around 22 000 jobs in 2020, a crisis year for local tourism.
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