Airbnb chief: Travel will never return to what it was before the pandemic

 Brian Chesky, CEO of Airbnb Vacation Rentals, predicted yesterday that travel will change irreversibly due to the Coronavirus pandemic as people look to visit thousands of small cities and spend more time visiting friends and family. .

Traditional tourism and sightseeing in the best global destinations will greatly decrease, as travelers will have the effect of driving their cars to smaller communities and limiting air travel to attend business meetings.

In an interview with Jonathan Weber, global technology editor at the Reuters Next conference, Cesky said that travelers "yearn for what was robbed of them ... They are not eager to see Times Square, what they are anxious to do is see their friends and relatives whom they have not seen for a long time."

Airbnb was affected by the Covid-19 pandemic in early 2020 and its business declined 80 percent in just over eight weeks.

However, as the lockdown measures eased, more travelers preferred to book homes rather than stay in hotels, helping the company to make a surprising profit in the third quarter.

The San Francisco-based company is taking advantage of the growing interest in leasing homes away from major cities.

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