Thursday 18 June, 2020 TOP STORY What can the world learn from Australia and New Zealand's Covid-19 responses? As New Zealand reports its first Covid-19 cases after a 24-day streak without any, we analyse whether countries can learn lessons from Australia and New Zealand's responses to the coronavirus in order to support their short-term rental industries. If you missed our last newsletter....
1. Spain's rising occupancy rates hint at accelerating short-term rental recovery 2. Airbnb dismisses data-sharing lawsuit against New York City 3. Rental sector to implement UK-wide cleaning protocols 4. Join our LinkedIn group here 5. Tripadvisor publishes findings from travel recovery study
Editor's comment
18•06•20 Welcome to the latest ShortTermRentalz newsletter!
• Last week, New Zealand was being heralded as an early eliminator of the coronavirus after it became the first country in the world to report a 24-day streak of no positive cases, before three emerged in quick succession, including one from Pakistan and two returning from the UK.
That was an eerily premature statement in hindsight, and it reflects the challenges that all nations will now face in fending off a potential second wave later this year, as they perform a delicate balancing act between opening up their travel industries and limiting the spread of the virus. The fact that an island nation with a population of 4.82 million is still seeing cases emerge should warn others of the dangers of complacency.
Continuing with our recent series of regional recovery features, my colleague Miles Hurley and I have analysed the recovery of the short-term rental industry in both Australia and New Zealand and whether there are any lessons other countries can learn from their respective Covid-19 responses.
In my recent podcast discussion with AirDNA chief revenue officer Tom Caton, he predicted that New Zealand in particular would be seen as a "portend" for how vacation rentals will pick up in the future. While the debate will run and run on how consumer behaviour will change post-Covid-19, it is becoming clear that it will be difficult to maintain the same intensity of cleaning in a vacation rental as opposed to in a hotel, even though a number of businesses within the space are working hard to implement strict cleaning protocols.
As governments feel the pressure to ease lockdowns, they will be faced with two options, according to BBC Newsnight's international editor Gabriel Gatehouse. Either they accept that the virus will remain with them in the medium-term and they set up a "comprehensive robust testing and tracing mechanism" to limit cases as they appear, or they go down the New Zealand route and try and eliminate it all together.
With Australia now unlikely to open up its international borders until 2021, the need for travellers to take domestic staycations in non-urban, local destinations will be more prescient than ever this year.
Read our latest feature piece here.
• Don't forget to register for the next in our Urban Living webinar series, which takes place on June 24, at 14:00 BST when we will be discussing how work is converging with the new-age of hospitality - or Workspitality as the folks at Accor's Wojo coworking brand put it.
Joining moderator Piers Brown will be:
Click here to register for the no cost webinar.
The webinar series is a precursor to the URBAN LIVING FESTIVAL 2020: stay-live-work on 25-26 November at Tobacco Dock London.
If you have a story you want us to tell the industry, please click here and get involved with the community by joining our ShortTermRentalz LinkedIn group here.
Paul Stevens, news editor
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