Airbnb, GSB team up to support homestays
Airbnb, the community-driven hospitality company, and the Government Savings Bank, announced last week a partnership to help promote hospitality entrepreneurs in Thailand, starting with local homestay owners.
A press release on Friday said that through the partnership, GSB will help ensure better funding for hospitality entrepreneurs by providing loans with flexible interest rates and instalment plans.
Airbnb will work with GSB to help build capacity through hospitality and hosting training while connecting homestay owners to its worldwide platform and marketplace network of over 500 million guests.
Chatchai Payuhanaveechai, GSB president and CEO, and Mike Orgill, Airbnb general manager for Southeast Asia, Hong Kong and Taiwan, jointly launched the partnership on Friday.
Prior to the launch, Airbnb and GSB had provided training to GSB officials and 29 local homestay groups, including the participants of GSB’s ‘Smart Homestay 2018 Competition’, which recognised outstanding homestays in different provinces across Thailand.
The partnership will support local sustainable tourism while diversifying income distribution to communities across Thailand, in alignment with the Thai government’s initiative to drive local economic growth in secondary cities through tourism.
