Tourism and the Sharing Economy. An Evidence from Airbnb Usage in Italy and Romania

Abstract

Tourism in the era of the sharing economy adopts a model based on a global concept with a local practice. The traditional tourism offer is based on the attractiveness of a destination, expressed by a system of characteristics of the destination itself and a range of services related to accommodation, transport and food. The tourism model of sharing economy, instead, is based on the development of shared services that stimulate the flows of tourists. Traditional destinations are then alongside new destinations that, thanks to some factors that drive the development of sharing economy platforms, attract tourists, change behaviours and modify competitive dynamics. The new paradigm of could be briefly described by the 4 Ts of sharing economy: Trust, Togetherness, Technology and Transformation.