It’s official: Irish people love using Airbnb

Irish people are among the biggest users in Europe of peer-to-peer accommodation websites such as Airbnb, according to a new study.

Overall, an estimated 17 per cent of people in the European Union arranged accommodation through websites or apps such as Airbnb this year, figures from Eurostat show. This is equivalent to approximately one in six EU citizens.

The Republic was ranked in third place in the EU in terms of the popularity of peer-to-peer accommodation sites, with 21 per cent of adults – or one in five – arranging a place to stay from another individual online.

The UK came top with 34 per cent of the population this year using Airbnb or a similar site, followed by Luxembourg with 22 per cent usage.

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Such peer-to-peer services are part of the so called “collaborative” or “sharing economy”.

Transport services

Arranging transport services online from other individuals through services such as Uber was considerably less common, being used by around 8 per cent of people in the EU in 2017.

In nearly all member states, the share of individuals using a website or app to arrange accommodation from others was higher than for transport, the only exceptions being Estonia and the Czech Republic .

Ireland was again ranked in third place for online bookings for transport services from individuals with 17 per cent saying they had arranged transportation via websites or apps. The UK led, with 27 per cent of the population having used such services, followed by Estonia on 20 per cent.