A new report by AirDNA, released 27 May, has found that global bookings for short-term rentals through Airbnb have more than doubled in the past six weeks.

After the multi-month lockdown in most western countries brought global travel to a standstill, it now seems that despite a lack of consensus on health and safety protocols, countries and cities around the world have begun nudging their industries back to normalcy.

What does this mean for short-term rentals? After weathering a flood of cancellations and scrambling to market themselves as immaculate, virus-free stays, AirDNA reports that the suffering for landlords in this sector may be somewhat short-lived.

However, the report states: “While some destinations are seeing V-shaped recovery curves, others are still faring far worse than ever before. One major factor at play is each market’s reliance on international travel and the new dynamics of drive-to tourism.”

Since the first week of February, AirDNA tracked the number of global new reservations being made each week. The data presents a clear timeline for how COVID-19 has impacted the international travel industry. After its onset in early March, vacation rental bookings found rock bottom during the week of 5 April. However, by the week of 18 May they had rebounded close to pre-COVID levels. Whereas there were just over 916,000 total bookings (both Airbnb and Vrbo) made during the 5 April week, by the week 18 May week this had rebounded to over 2.08m.

New Zealand, Germany, France, US and Australia lead the recovery
The global uptick is clear, but it’s worth noticing how each country is experiencing its own unique recovery. New Zealand leads the charge with over 465% more bookings this week than six weeks prior. After doing a remarkable job shutting down the country and stunting the virus’s spread, it’s seeing a huge surge in bookings even as it heads into the winter season.