Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Highland Airbnb hosts make more than £21m

gems
view on Portree before sunset, Isle of Skye, Scotland
gems view on Portree before sunset, Isle of Skye, Scotland

People in the Highlands renting out space for Airbnb guests earned a total of more than £21 million last year, according to the online accommodation booking business.

The company said six places in the region had been among the top 10 most popular destinations north of the border for its users as it released figures showing it generated nearly £670m for the Scottish economy last year.

Airbnb’s success was yesterday credited with “helping to grow the visitor economy,” by VisitScotland chief executive Malcolm Roughead.

But the growing popularity of the short-term lets it and other firms offer has recently led to a warning the boom could result in a shortage of homes for long-term residents in their communities.

According to Airbnb’s figures, hosts in Inverness earned a total of £5.8m last year, as did those in the Isle of Skye, with rentals in the island’s capital, Portree, totalling £2.5m.

The Highland capital and Skye were ranked third and fourth respectively in the list of top destinations, behind Edinburgh and Glasgow.

Other Highland areas in the top 10 were Fort William, where hosts earned a total of £3m; Oban, with earnings of £2.6m; and Kyle of Lochalsh, £1.5m.

The company said it had generated £693m for the Scottish economy during the year, with guest spending accounting for £531 and the total earned by hosts £162m.

It said its guests spend an average of £100 a day on activities such as cultural experiences, sightseeing, shopping, travel and food and drink.

Domestic travel accounted for 46% of all Airbnb arrivals last year and the majority of overseas visitors came from the USA, France and Germany.

Hadi Moussa, Airbnb’s country manager for the UK and Northern Europe, said: “Airbnb has transformed the way people travel, helping visitors to explore beyond the traditional destinations and hotspots. Tourism plays an important role in the Scottish economy, and the Airbnb community of hosts and guests are helping to spread the benefits of this tourism, enabling travellers to live like locals and putting money in the pockets of local families, businesses and communities.”

Mr Roughead added: “Tourism today is all about consumer choice and we are lucky to have a range of options from the five-star experience to, now, the spare bedroom.

“Airbnb is part of a suite of choices the consumer has when visiting a country and there’s no doubt it is helping to grow the visitor economy through innovative new approaches to tourism.”

In April, Callum Chomczuk, director of the Chartered Institute of Housing in Scotland, warned that, “if left unregulated, there is a real risk of loss of much-needed housing from the private rented sector to the short-term lets market and displacement of long-term residents”.