Airbnb pushes into Sri Lanka’s Experiences scene with tourism board

Potentially paving the way for regulation in the non-hotel accommodation space in Sri Lanka, Airbnb and the state-owned Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) have announced a strategic partnership to launch Airbnb Experiences in the country.

Airbnb previously partnered the Tourism Authority of Thailand on a similar initiative for local accommodation, but the collaboration in Sri Lanka is the first in Asia where the homesharing giant is working with a NTO to onboard local experience hosts, officials said.

Simran Kodesia, spokesperson for Airbnb in India, told TTG Asia: “We have (rolled out) Experiences in almost 800 cities globally but this is the first time in Asia we have partnered with a tourism authority (rather than) launch Experiences on our own,” she said.

Travellers can now choose from more than 40 Airbnb Experiences in Sri Lanka designed and led by local experts. The experiences range from heritage trails in southern Galle to surfing experiences in southern Mirissa, and adventure walks in Sri Lanka’s national parks (across the island) to discovering the best local food spots in Colombo.

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