ETW Staff – Mumbai
Airbnb has signed an MoU with the Self-employed Women’s Association of India (SEWA), through which, Airbnb will work with SEWA members to help them share their homes with Airbnb’s community of international and domestic guests, creating economic opportunities for women in rural areas and promoting tourism spend in parts of India that have not traditionally benefited from tourism and hospitality. The MoU aims at expanding the network of Airbnb homes in rural areas through SEWA’s member network. The initiative will begin in Gujarat and eventually expand to other states that have a significant presence of SEWA members.
Airbnb and SEWA will train SEWA members on home sharing, hospitality and amenity standards, and responsible hosting practices. Airbnb will also help SEWA build a community of SEWA hosts who can learn from each other and improve hosting standards. Airbnb will also use its digital platform to create awareness of SEWA homes to its community of international and domestic guests.
Airbnb and SEWA will explore opportunities to create visibility and drive demand for the SEWA homes through joint partnerships with various state governments, academic institutions, media partners and other civil society organisations.
“The partnership is an important step in Airbnb’s commitment to enable economic empowerment for female entrepreneurs and promote digital inclusion in rural areas. Our mission is to democratise travel and through the partnership, we can help promote economic opportunities across diverse communities, help revitalise the rural economy,” said Thao Nguyen, director of policy partnerships, Asia Pacific, Airbnb.
“Gujarat is an important market for Airbnb. Today’s partnership, along with our recent MoU with the Government of Gujarat, signals our commitment to work with local stakeholders to build a model of home sharing that contributes to the local community,” stated Amanpreet Bajaj, country manager, Airbnb India.
“By partnering with Airbnb, we hope to create meaningful, productive and sustainable livelihood opportunities through the new age economy for our two million women members across 14 states of India,” commented Reema Nanavaty, director, SEWA.