Can Social Characteristics Confine the Use of Airbnb Platform? A Case Study of Aswan and Wahat in Egypt

• Published in: ATHENS JOURNAL OF TOURISM 2021-05, Vol.8 (2), p.107-130
• Main Authors: Hany B. Moussa, Mohamed, Gamal Saad, Sameh, Messeha, Catherine Goerge
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 2241-8148; 2241-8148
• DOI: 10.30958/ajt.8-2-3

Airbnb became the largest share economy platform in the world with an expected 500 million guests deriving 3 billion dollars profits in 2020. In many destinations, the Airbnb platform provides the umbrella for private dwellings owners to participate in the global tourism movement. Aswan and Wahat are two Egyptian destinations where private dwellings are in use in isolation from this platform as well as any governmental cover despite their existence. Neither the Ministry of Tourism "MoT" nor the Egyptian Tourism Federation "E.T.F" provide any umbrella for this activity despite its existence and popularity. PESTEL is a model that is geared toward exploring the adequacy of destinations for projects. This paper uses this model to find out the impact of social and demographic elements of the model to differentiate between destinations about their adequacy to adopt the Airbnb platform. Findings indicate that local, social and demographic disputes may make the difference in adequacy, albeit all other PESTEL factors conformity. Keywords: private dwellings, Airbnb platform, social and demographic characteristics, PESTEL