Airbnb to shut down all listings, experiences in China

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Airbnb to shut down all listings, experiences in China

SHANGHAI: Vacation rental firm Airbnb said on Tuesday it will shut down all listings and experiences in China from July 30.

The announcement was made in a letter posted to its official WeChat account, addressed to Chinese users. It said that Chinese users will still be allowed to book listings and experiences abroad.

Airbnb started six years ago in China, and has booked stays at homes there for about 25 million guests. In the past few years, bookings at residences in China accounted for only 1 per cent of all Airbnb bookings, according to the company.

In China, Airbnb faced strong competition, and COVID 19 made its operations more complicated and expensive.

China has imposed hard lock downs and movement restrictions on several cities, even as much of the world has been living with the coronaviruses, because of its zero-COVID policy.

The curbs including stay-at- home orders in the economic hub of Shanghai and the tighter restrictions across Beijing have inflicted a heavy economic toll.