Airbnb makes so much profit in Switzerland | centralplus

Lucerne will vote on the Airbnb initiative on Sunday. The business figures of the company meanwhile only know one direction: upwards.

editorial staff

Editorial office central plus

Will apartments in Lucerne soon only be let to tourists for a maximum of 90 days a year? Or is there a quota per district as to how many holiday apartments can be realized there? Or will everything stay the same?

On Sunday, the city of Lucerne will vote on the Airbnb initiative (zentralplus reported). The vote is hotly debated in Lucerne, which has seen itself as a tourist stronghold for decades. The initiative committee around SP, Juso, tenants’ association and Casafair made the vote in advance a David versus Goliath question: Housing for the city’s population? Or profits for large corporations like Airbnb?

Doubling of sales in four years

Figures published by the “Sonntagszeitung” show how profitable the Airbnb business is in Switzerland. In 2018, the American company made sales of around half a billion francs in Switzerland. In 2022 it will be more than twice as much at 1.13 billion. The corona pandemic only led to a brief stagnation in sales in 2021.

The number of Airbnb apartments in Switzerland has increased at the same time. In 2019 there were around 36,000 apartments in Switzerland on the platform. In 2022 there are now almost 40,000 offers.

Lucerne is not the largest Airbnb city. Zurich and Geneva have the most Airbnb apartments in Switzerland. In the city of Zurich, apartments for short-term rentals make up almost four percent of the total housing stock. In Lucerne, at 0.8 percent of all apartments, it is significantly less. Although the number of apartments has increased significantly in recent years.

Note: From Sunday noon we will be providing information about news and background information on the Airbnb vote at centralplus.