During the summer that will be remembered for the COVID-19 pandemic, tourism has had to reinvent itself to save its most important campaign. Travelers were strongly committed to domestic tourism (which aims to rediscover places nearby) given the uncertainty of how the situation would unfold, and to what extent it could affect the travel plans.
As a response to this scenario, home exchange or home swapping made its way as one of the key alternatives to safely enjoy the summer by providing private spaces with all the comforts to feel at home and flexibility in cancellation policies.
This has been confirmed by data from HomeExchange, a global home exchange community. The platform has multiplied its activity by almost six times, which represents an almost 500% increase in requests (478.72% exactly) compared to the beginning of the summer.
The overnight stays for June amounted to 20,056, those in July reached 95,643, and those in August 116,069. So the forecasts for September are already at 12,957, despite being a month with less holiday activity since it means the return to the routine for most travelers.
According to HomeExchange, in a study among the members of its community, between 70% and 80% of the exchanges made during the summer season have been finalized in the month before or the same month of the planned trip. This leads to the expectation that in September if the situation allows it, it is possible that the home swapping requests will increase compared to the current records.
At the international level, as the summer ends, tourists have shown greater confidence to travel abroad, but the figures remain far from those of 2019, which in June had recorded 57% of the total requests compared to 26% this year.
The destinations most requested by users who crossed borders for the summer vacations were France, Portugal, Germany and Italy.