A new interest in the enhancement of local assets within inner areas has been increasing during recent years, eventually leading to a tourist transition of many formerly abandoned places. This process has resulted in both positive and negative outcomes. In some ways, this tourist transition has helped small towns overcome the stereotyped images of marginalization, while in other cases, has led some to risk falling into a category of a fabricated ‘idyllic’ rural lifestyle suitable for vacation purposes, but lagging in the support and development of adequate services for year-round residents. Extensive literature on sustainable rural development and tourist transition relies on concepts such as countryside capital and nexogenous development to frame these processes. This study is aimed at assessing the impacts of gastro-tourism offerings through Airbnb’s Experiences platform—an offshoot of the company’s original accommodation model. Experiences are a compilation of activity-based offerings, with the aim of highlighting more ‘authentic’ services to tourists in coherence with local cultural heritage. This research narrows in on food and drink offerings, with the intention of understanding how their slow proliferation, via this socially innovative digital platform, has impacted sustainable development across rural and inner communities throughout Italy. Has Airbnb’s new model achieved the aim of supporting the enhancement of local heritage in a social and economic sustainable way? Employing a mixed-methods approach, this study draws insights from three different case studies. After a detailed desk mapping of all Italian gastronomic Experiences advertised on the platform, field work was conducted during the summer of 2022, which entailed in-depth, semi-structured interviews with tourism providers, along with survey responses from rural tourism Hosts and micro-data analyses on tourist flows. The main study results indicate that Airbnb may offer a novel approach to development through nexogenous innovation, in part due to its partnerships with Italian cultural organizations (the Ministry of Culture and Tourism), development NGOs, and associations such as Slow Food, as well as from the innovation of providers who choose to list their offerings on Airbnb’s website. Additionally, the global visibility that this digital platform offers to rural tourism Hosts might prove to be a central motivator in the utilization of Airbnb’s services. In contrast, however, the platform and its economic policies may impose other challenges, which call into question the veracity of Airbnb’s stated sustainability commitments. Greater collaboration between the company, public institutions and local communities is needed to create offerings that effectively address and account for the realities of rural lifestyles—including digital and physical infrastructure challenges—so that its corporate presence ultimately serves to enhance the wellbeing of these communities instead of posing the risk of rural gentrification. Airbnb Experiences should reach its original objective by balancing its further expansion with genuine efforts to safeguard the cultural and gastronomic heritage through improved partnerships, increased knowledge sharing, and a more participatory management style with a greater attention to ethical issues.
From rural to digital: Insights from Airbnb Gastro-Experiences in Italian Inner Areas
Rita Salvatore
In corso di stampa
Abstract
A new interest in the enhancement of local assets within inner areas has been increasing during recent years, eventually leading to a tourist transition of many formerly abandoned places. This process has resulted in both positive and negative outcomes. In some ways, this tourist transition has helped small towns overcome the stereotyped images of marginalization, while in other cases, has led some to risk falling into a category of a fabricated ‘idyllic’ rural lifestyle suitable for vacation purposes, but lagging in the support and development of adequate services for year-round residents. Extensive literature on sustainable rural development and tourist transition relies on concepts such as countryside capital and nexogenous development to frame these processes. This study is aimed at assessing the impacts of gastro-tourism offerings through Airbnb’s Experiences platform—an offshoot of the company’s original accommodation model. Experiences are a compilation of activity-based offerings, with the aim of highlighting more ‘authentic’ services to tourists in coherence with local cultural heritage. This research narrows in on food and drink offerings, with the intention of understanding how their slow proliferation, via this socially innovative digital platform, has impacted sustainable development across rural and inner communities throughout Italy. Has Airbnb’s new model achieved the aim of supporting the enhancement of local heritage in a social and economic sustainable way? Employing a mixed-methods approach, this study draws insights from three different case studies. After a detailed desk mapping of all Italian gastronomic Experiences advertised on the platform, field work was conducted during the summer of 2022, which entailed in-depth, semi-structured interviews with tourism providers, along with survey responses from rural tourism Hosts and micro-data analyses on tourist flows. The main study results indicate that Airbnb may offer a novel approach to development through nexogenous innovation, in part due to its partnerships with Italian cultural organizations (the Ministry of Culture and Tourism), development NGOs, and associations such as Slow Food, as well as from the innovation of providers who choose to list their offerings on Airbnb’s website. Additionally, the global visibility that this digital platform offers to rural tourism Hosts might prove to be a central motivator in the utilization of Airbnb’s services. In contrast, however, the platform and its economic policies may impose other challenges, which call into question the veracity of Airbnb’s stated sustainability commitments. Greater collaboration between the company, public institutions and local communities is needed to create offerings that effectively address and account for the realities of rural lifestyles—including digital and physical infrastructure challenges—so that its corporate presence ultimately serves to enhance the wellbeing of these communities instead of posing the risk of rural gentrification. Airbnb Experiences should reach its original objective by balancing its further expansion with genuine efforts to safeguard the cultural and gastronomic heritage through improved partnerships, increased knowledge sharing, and a more participatory management style with a greater attention to ethical issues.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
