The online marketplace says short-term rentals are not only helping South Africans earn money, they provide guests with stays in parts of the country that are not traditionally deemed tourist destinations

Short-term rentals are boosting South Africa's economy by contributing more than R23.5-billion to the GDP - and that's from a single platform: Airbnb.

The online marketplace for short- and longer-term stays says its new report, for which it commissioned Genesis Analytics, shows Airbnb has more than doubled its contribution to tourism and grown job creation by 70% since 2019.

The report was released in the run-up to the Airbnb Africa Travel Summit which takes place on Tuesday, bringing together policymakers, tourism experts, innovators and others from across the continent.

Most of that growth has come via domestic travel, which has been consistently higher than regional and international travel on the platform. And 60% of Airbnb guests in SA were domestic travellers, who sustained the local tourism sector throughout the Covid pandemic.

Although about two-thirds of total host earnings came from the Western Cape, domestic guests travelling through Airbnb help to spread the value of tourism to different parts of the country.

Some of the fastest-growing destinations on Airbnb are outside traditional hotspots too. Six of the country's 10 fastest-growing sites on Airbnb between 2019 and 2022 are located outside of traditional tourist hotspots of Cape Town, the Kruger Park...