The tourism demand associated with historical and cultural heritage is currently increasing. This is evidenced by the data released by Airbnb. In Europe, reservations for historic homes in 2021 grew by 54% compared to 2019 and in Italy represented one of the main resources for restoring international tourism, with foreigners making more than 70% of bookings. In response to this growing demand, Airbnb today is launching the Historic Homes category, making it easier to identify accommodations on the platform with historical and cultural value, such as castles, villas or converted historic buildings and, only in Italy, typical buildings such as a trulli. and dammusi.
The category is currently available in Italy, Spain, France, Germany and the United Kingdom, and has around 20,000 accommodations, with Italy being second in terms of breadth of offer, with over 5,000 listings. “The new Airbnb Historic Homes category will give travelers from all over the world the opportunity to discover the rich cultural heritage of Italy, but also to promote the dispersal of tourism, given that more than 90% of the historic homes on Airbnb are located in rural or sparsely populated areas,” this This was stated by Giacomo Trova, Regional Director of Airbnb Italia.
Among the Italian destinations that in 2021 recorded the largest growth in reservations for historic homes on the platform: the Etruscan coast, Verbania, the Piedmont countryside, Versilia, Lake Como. The category also represents an economic opportunity for all historic home owners.
“Introducing the Historic Homes category on Airbnb provides an important support for cultural tourism and is a global showcase for our homes that are often located in places people would not otherwise visit. We are pleased to collaborate with Airbnb, and we are confident that it not only represents a revenue opportunity for owners, but also generates an impact. positive economic impact on European rural areas that are in dire need of high-quality tourism,” says Alfonso Pallavicini, president of the European History Foundation Peyote Association.
For owners of historic homes who want to take advantage of this new trend, Airbnb has created a Heritage Academy in Italy: by visiting the dedicated page www.airbnb.it/d/airbnbheritageacademy, individual owners and associations will have the opportunity to access useful resources and communicate with the Host Ambassador who will introduce them Individual support to become hosts of “historic homes” on Airbnb and “ambassadors” of Italian cultural heritage, as in the case of Anna Rita, Airbnb host and owner of the historic home in which Pirandello’s novel “Old and Young” was written.
“I was born and brought up in this historic building in the heart of the archaeological park of the Valley of the Temples in Agrigento, which was built at the end of the nineteenth century – she says – by a rich sulfur merchant, father-in-law, Nobel Prize for Literature Luigi Pirandello. In this particular building, the author wrote One of his most famous novels, Old and Young: It is always a pleasure to have the opportunity to share this story with my guests, for whom I discovered glimpses and reviews of Pirandello’s description of his work.
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