The Indian arm of global hospitality chain Airbnb India has posted a nearly 7% drop in its revenue from USD 4.8 million in fiscal year 2018 to USD 4.5 million in FY 2019 according to the regulatory filings with Registrar of Companies.
This fiscal year it posted a profit of USD 0.24 million which is 17.24% less than the profit recorded in the previous year, that is, USD 0.29 million.
After launching in India four years ago, Airbnb had said India has emerged as one of its top three emerging markets in the world.
“Europe and North America are the largest markets for us but from an emerging (economy) standpoint, India is in the top three and growing one of the fastest. I expect it to continue to grow for quite some time as a growing number of people here are discovering travel—both domestic and internationally,” Greg Greeley, president of homes, Airbnb told local media Mint.
Founded in 2008, Airbnb is active in 191 countries and till date has raised USD 4.4 billion in funds making the company worth around USD 35 billion. Now, it is gearing up for an initial public offering in 2020.
Airbnb, has various accommodation and service options ranging from the basic bed-and-breakfasts to adventurous treehouses to average apartments, and luxury villas and castles.
Currently, Airbnb India has around 54,000 listings spanning 110 Indian cities. According to a study by Airbnb, India’s popularity as a tourist destination is growing, with Kerala emerging among the top 20 global destinations for 2020.
Earlier in 2019, Airbnb invested nearly USD 150-200 million in India’s hospitality unicorn OYO.
Meanwhile Airbnb’s arch rival in India, the Nasdaq-listed MakeMyTrip has a total of 170,000 properties listed which includes 20,000 to 25,000 homestays that generates 5 to 7% to its total revenue. MakeMyTrip intends to double its count of homestays in the next one year.
In a report by hospitality advisory firm Hotelivate, around 2.5 million branded and unbranded hotel chains, new-age hotels and alternative accommodations like guest houses and homestays are offering their services in India. Unbranded hotel chains account for the lion’s share with 72% of the total.
Airbnb is showing heightened interest in servicing the transport needs of its guests too, as it wants to cater to their end-to-end travel requirements and wants to provision this facility across all categories.
“We are positioning ourselves to help our community on the entire trip—from the inspiration of where would I like to go to how do I get there, where do I stay and what do I do when I get there. Also, we would like to help people on their return and that checking back into their own home is as easy as it is to check into a place on your holiday,” Greeley told Mint. The hospitality platform is curating experiences too, native to each region of their operations like food tours, biking tours, pottery classes, and museum tours.