Airbnb Brazil’s number of arrivals more than doubled to one million with 2016 Olympics

A man walks past an Airbnb logo after a press conference in Tokyo, Japan on November 26, 2015. REUTERS / Yuya Shino / File Photo

SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Online room rental service Airbnb Inc recorded more than one million guest arrivals in Brazil last year, boosted by trips to the Rio de Janeiro Olympics and a growing number of hosts looking for additional income in a deep recession.

Leonardo Tristão, chief executive of Airbnb in the country, noted the benchmark in a statement on Monday, marking a strong recovery from the roughly 421,000 arrivals in the country in 2015 and around 622,000 arrivals in the twelve months to June.

The market boomed in August, when more than 85,000 guests arrived in Rio alone during the three-week Olympic Games, whose organizers named Airbnb as the official accommodation provider. The worst slowdown on record in Brazil has also increased unemployment, pushing more people to seek income through accommodation.

The company previously reported 80 million arrivals worldwide in 2016, up from 40 million in 2015.

Tristão also announced the arrival of travel services known as Trips to the Rio and Sao Paulo markets in June, with the aim of diversifying revenue from accommodation to other tourism activities.

Reporting by Brad Haynes; Editing by Marguerita Choy

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