KINGSTON, Jamaica — Minister of Tourism Edmund Bartlett today announced that the Ministry of Tourism is set to sign a major agreement with Airbnb to augment and drive growth within the tourism industry.

The minister, who made the announcement during a meeting with Airbnb executives at the ministry’s New Kingston offices, is optimistic about the potential impact the agreement will have on community tourism and is eager to finalise a memorandum of understanding to concretise the partnership.

“We are very happy to be partnering with Airbnb and know that it will be mutually beneficial to both entities involved. Once drafted, I know that the agreement will take into account our goal of destination assurance, which ensures our credibility in the marketplace. It will also allow us to utilise analytics across their social platforms. This will be a great tool for us to build a better collective resource management platform for our destination,” said Bartlett.  

According to Airbnb’s executive with responsibility for public policy in Latin America and the Caribbean, Shawn Sullivan, the market for Airbnb in Jamaica is rapidly growing and is extremely lucrative. The site currently accounts for 2,300 active hosts and 4,000 active listings in the past year from Jamaica.

“Generally in the Caribbean, people will rent their entire homes. Here in Jamaica, we are seeing a mixture between private homes versus a private space in someone’s home. We were responsible for bringing in roughly 32,000 tourists within the past year and we believe that this collaboration will allow this to grow exponentially,” explained Sullivan.

Airbnb is a community marketplace for people to list, discover, and book unique accommodations around the world online or from a mobile phone or tablet. It connects people to unique travel experiences, at any price point, in more than 34,000 cities and 191 countries. With a growing community of users, Airbnb is one of the easiest ways for people to monetise their extra space and showcase it to an audience of millions.