The impact of Airbnb hosts on Arctic local economies

The aim of this Nordregio ACP project's was to investigate how Airbnb hosts contribute to sustainable tourism development in rural and remote regions. The number of Airbnb hosts has been increasing in peripheries in the recent decade, attracting tourists as an alternative source of income and providing opportunities for local entrepreneurship. Airbnb-based tourism can have positive and negative impacts on the local economies. The main goal of the project was to study Airbnb hosts and their contribution to the sustainable destination development and community formation in local economies in Northern Jutland (Denmark), North Iceland (Iceland) and Nordland (Norway), which represent typical Nordic rural and peripheral areas.

The project ran from 2021-2023 and ended with a report with all the main findings that can be located HERE.

Other publications with the project's findings:

• Professionalisation and performance of Airbnb hosts in rural regions in International Journal of Hospitality Management (January 2024)

Guðrún Þóra Gunnarsdóttir, director of ITRC, was the project manager for the Icelandic part of the project. Working alongside her on the Icelandic team was Vera Vilhjálmsdóttir, researcher at ITRC.