Airbnb ambitious to supply accommodation for PyeongChang Olympics
Lee Sang-hyun, head of public policy at Airbnb Seoul, presents data during a press event held Tuesday in Seoul. / Courtesy of Airbnb By Yun Suh-young Global lodging platform Airbnb has rolled up its sleeves to ambitiously support the PyeongChang Winter Olympics which begins Friday. In a press conference Tuesday, releasing data gathered ahead of the Olympics, the online company announced the number of bookings for Gangwon Province, where the Olympics will be held, increased by 260 percent. "Whereas there were 2,500 tourists to PyeongChang last February, the numbers have catapulted to 9,000 as of Feb. 2 this year, up by 260 percent within a year. That means, based on simple calculation of placing two people in one room, there needs to be 4,500 rooms to accommodate them. This is equivalent to having 28 hotels. Airbnb has de facto brought 28 hotels to the region," said Lee Sang-hyun, head of public policy at Airbnb's Seoul office. "As of this February, there are 4,000 Airbnb listings in Gangwon Province. The mean price for the listings is 185,000 won, which is nearly one-third of th
Feb 7, 2018