The City of Cape Town and Airbnb has signed the first hospitality collaboration agreement, aimed to promote the “benefits of people-to-people tourism for Cape Town residents and their communities”.
As part of the collaboration agreement, Airbnb and the City will join forces to boost the attractiveness of Cape Town and enable Airbnb hosts to become ambassadors of the city while working together to bring community-led tourism to townships and support greater economic and social empowerment.
This collaboration will also celebrate Cape Town as an ‘Ideas Capital’ by hosting the Africa Travel Summit and bringing together 80 tourism and technology leaders from across the continent as well as exchange insights and learnings about travel trends and the sharing economy in order to leverage the technology and the Airbnb platform to boost local communities.
The City says that Airbnb has also committed to invest $1 million (about R13 million at R13.48/$) in community-led tourism projects in Africa, including Cape Town, over the next three years.
With this pilot programme – which supported training in hospitality and technology for residents from townships across the Western Cape – the City says Airbnb will especially look at scaling it to reach more women and youth in underserved communities throughout Cape Town.
Added to this, the City will also be invited to advise Airbnb on where to take the programme to ensure alignment with broader municipal priorities including the City’s Organisational Development and Transformation Plan which aims to leverage technology for progress, building integrated communities and enabling greater economic inclusion.
This is Airbnb’s first collaboration with a city in Africa and according to Cape Town, it will promote the city across the world as a unique travel destination.
the Executive Mayor Patricia de Lille and Airbnb Global Head of Public Policy and Public Affairs, Chris Lehane.
Commenting on the agreement, Executive Mayor, Patricia de Lille said that Cape Town is building an opportunity city that creates an enabling environment for inclusive economic growth and job creation.
“The shared economy has the ability to welcome more Capetonians into the tourism sector in line with our efforts of building an inclusive city as we welcome more Airbnb guests. Cape Town is a globally competitive destination and we are creating the space for all entrepreneurs to excel.