Global events,local benefits
How Airbnb helps host cities and regions win from global events
As a Worldwide Olympic and Paralympic Partner, we see short-term rentals as a unique opportunity to support host cities and regions in meeting demand during major events like the Milano Cortina Winter Games 2026. Our data show that most of the top-searched dates and cities for 2026 coincide with major cultural, sporting, and music events.
Using existing buildings to welcome more people
Our nine-year, five-Games partnership with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and International Paralympic Committee (IPC) began in 2019. From the start, the partnership has focused on economic empowerment for host regions and towns, as well as environmental sustainability, favoring the use of existing infrastructure over additional construction.The Milano Cortina Winter Games in February and March 2026, will be held across multiple locations in the northern Italian regions of Lombardy, Veneto, and Trentino-Alto Adige. Analysis from Deloitte shows that Airbnb's offering—which is more dispersed and less concentrated than traditional tourist accommodation options—will facilitate overnight stays near the competition venues, including many mountain villages with very little or no traditional accommodation.
Dispersing tourism and boosting local communities
While more traditional hotel accommodation keeps event footfall in tourism hotspots, travel on Airbnb spreads the economic benefits of tourism to local families, small businesses and municipalities that may not have benefited otherwise. Stays on Airbnb are built on person-to-person interactions and hosts act as local ambassadors with their guests, often recommending local businesses. Our data shows that 87 percent of hosts globally recommend local restaurants to guests, and guests do 40 percent of their daily travel spending in the neighborhood of their listing. Deloitte estimates that the economic impact of stays on Airbnb during the Winter Games will total €154 million. In concrete terms, that looks like €2,400 earned by each host during the events, and €150 per day spent by each guest in local cafés and restaurants, shops and entertainment venues.
A lasting positive legacy from major events
When travelers opt to stay in short-term rentals for major events they make a lasting impact on the host regions. Over the last six years, we’ve seen the huge value Airbnb activity can add for host regions of the Olympics and Paralympics - during and after the Games. During Paris 2024, we witnessed visitors using our platform to stay in suburbs and smaller towns often left off the tourism trail. Listings on Airbnb during the event were spread out across 99% of postal codes in the greater Paris region, compared to hotels which were concentrated in only 50%. Long after the events finished, these stays put put overlooked locations firmly on the tourism map.Stays on Airbnb related to the Games also have the potential to generate additional revenue for host regions through taxes and duties. Analysis from Deloitte predicts that stays on our platform during Milano Cortina 2026 will generate an estimated €33 million of this kind of revenue.
