Airbnb Belgium doubles number of accommodations in one year

The number of accommodations offered in Belgium via Airbnb doubled in the last 12 months, according to Philippe Coulon, general manager of Airbnb Belgium. The online marketplace for the rental and booking of private accommodation lists about 2 million properties worldwide.

In Belgium, there are about 10,400 properties listed on Airbnb. Most of them (5,500) are located in Brussels, followed by Flanders (3,600) and Wallonia (1,400). The different types of accommodation on offer include rooms and apartments, but the majority (61%) are entire homes.

Airbnb hosts in Belgium this year welcomed a total of 350,000 guests into their homes, for an average stay of 2.9 days. Nearly 80% of the guests come from Europe, and 10% from within Belgium. From September last year through August, 2015, about 176,500 tourists stayed in an Airbnb in Brussels, compared to 139,300 in Flanders and 34,800 in Wallonia. In the same period, as many as 434,000 Belgians found accommodation abroad via Airbnb.

Airbnb hosts in Belgium rent out their accommodation for 36 days per year on average, providing an annual income of €2,300, writes De Morgen. More than half of the property owners (52%) say they rely on the services of Airbnb to make ends meet.