It’s a great way to earn extra cash if you have room to spare, as more and more tourists makes South Africa a travel destination.

Nicola D’Elia, managing director for Africa and Middle East at Airbnb told Fin24:

Cape Town and South Africa offer tremendous beauty; the tourism infrastructure is great.

On average, hosts of the internet travel booking service make around R28 800 per year, according to Airbnb’s latest findings.

While local hosts have increased to 7 500, with 134 000 inbound guests representing an overall growth of 250%, it averages guest-stays at around 4.9 nights.

Although unpleasant industries occasionally rock the internet, it’s important to realise that it’s not the company that is in the wrong when bookings don’t work out, but the individual’s. D’Elia said the company is working hard to prevent these cases:

When we’re talking about security or safety, this is not something that is unique to South Africa. It’s something that is at the core of our mission.

The site only allows reviews from guests and hosts who have booked with each other.

If you look at the numbers, on average last summer we had one million guests travelling on Airbnb every single day. Our community is based on trust and safety is paramount for us.

Almost half of the hosts in South Africa are freelancers, entrepreneurs, or self-employed, with the same number stating that “welcoming guests helps them afford to stay in their home” – as latest data also indicates that 66 % of hosts share space in their primary residence.

It’s pretty cool to see how South Africa easily adopts new online trends.

[source: mybroadband]