24 Oct East of England grows as much-loved tourist destination with record guest arrivals in the past year
The East of England has continued to grow as a much-loved tourist destination among the Airbnb community, generating £135 million for local businesses and residents in the past year.
According to the 2018 Airbnb UK Insights Report, a record 344,000 guests on the platform visited the East of England between July 2017 and June 2018. The region was particularly popular among families, with almost one in five (19%) guests on Airbnb arriving as part of a family. From the coastal counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex, to the picturesque countryside of East Anglia, there has been plenty to offer to the hundreds of thousands of travellers visiting the region from the UK and abroad.
East of England locals were able to tap into this huge growth in tourism, with the average host on Airbnb earning £3,000 per year just by hosting people around three nights per month. This extra revenue has been used to supplement earnings from permanent jobs, to provide extra financial stability for hosts that are self-employed, or to provide a revenue stream as a retiree.
The hospitality of senior hosts also proved to be a hit in the region, with almost one fifth (18%) of all inbound guests staying with hosts aged 60-90.
