Online accommodation platforms data

In January 2020, the European Commission (Eurostat) signed a non-disclosure agreement with four major international online platforms: Airbnb, Booking, Expedia, Tripadvisor, on the basis of which the first comprehensive collection or passing on statistical data from these providers. In this way, information is not collected directly about the service provider offering accommodation, but through intermediary portals where the guests leave a digital footprint (through advertised listings or actual reservations).

In June 2021, the first results were published by Eurostat, and at the same time selected more detailed data was provided to the national statistical offices of the member countries based on bilateral data exchange agreements.

In December 2021, the data for 2020 was published, and at the same time, the results for 2018 and 2019 were revised due to the correction of the data of one of the platforms.

In July 2022, the data for 2021 was published and the datasets were newly placed in the Eurobase database. Figures for 2022 were published also there in April 2023. In July 2024, the data 2023 was published and data for 2022 was revised due to the extraordinary correction of the data.

Statistics | Eurostat (europa.eu) 

Publication details and methodological description (data after revision) here:
https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/experimental-statistics/collaborative-economy-platforms

Eurostat press release from 29 June 2021 (data before revision) here:
https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/IP_21_3293

Eurostat data covers rentals of holiday accommodation (excluding hotels and campsites) located in 27 EU Member States and 4 EFTA countries, which are offered through four online sharing economy platforms (Airbnb, Booking, Expedia, Tripadvisor). Data is currently available for 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 and Q1 2024. 

1. Number of stays - realized orders regardless of the size of the guest group

2. Number of nights - for completed orders regardless of the size of the guest group

3. Number of guest nights - number of nights spent during the stay by all guests of the group = number of overnight stays

Example: A family of four who spent 3 nights in an apartment represents 1 stay, 3 nights and 12 guest nights.
Note: The term "guest nights" corresponds in content to the monitored indicator "number of nights" or "number of overnight stays", which is used in CZSO statistics. This will also be used in the following text and publication tables. 

The results provide an insight into the segment of the shared economy, which in recent years has become an important part of the tourism services sector in the Czech Republic. They supplement information on the number of short-term accommodation persons in our territory, most of whom can be considered participants in the tourism industry. At the same time, the data can significantly improve estimates of the total number of visitors in the Czech Republic.

Data from accommodation platforms is currently published in Eurostat as pilot or experimental, therefore they are also published within the CZSO outside the standard dissemination processes.

In tourism statistics, accommodation establishments can be divided into:

• Collective accommodation establishmets (CAE - at least 10 beds and 5 rooms)
• Individual accommodation establishments - paid/commercial (IAE paid)
• Individual accommodation establishments – free of charge (IAE free of charge), e.g. with relatives and friends

The nature of the newly published data does not allow solving the problem of multiple registrations of accommodation providers on several portals at the same time or double counting of data from platforms and other sources of tourism statistics.

Therefore, in the context of summary data on visitor accommodation within the Czech Republic, there may be an overlap of information, as most online platforms offer the mediation of services for both collective and individual accommodation establishments, with the numerical superiority of individual ones.

The register and the CZSO surveys (CR 1-12 and CR 2-04) cover only collective accommodation establishments.

The share of the published four platforms in the total offer in the short-term rental sector - NACE 55.2 is also not apparent from the data. At the same time, all accommodated persons cannot be regarded as participants in the tourism industry.

The following figure shows a comparison of data from online platforms and data from collective accommodation establishments, which is the standard output of the CZSO (https://csu.gov.cz/huz-amet). Methodological overlap and possible double counting of tourists is shown by a dashed arrow. For the time being, more detailed data from the platforms is missing to remove duplicate records. Non-paid forms of accommodation are not included (staying overnight in your own recreation facility, with relatives, friends, etc.).