Short-term home rental company Airbnb Inc yesterday said it was becoming a worldwide Olympic partner in time for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo as the games’ organisers bid to cut the costs associated with hosting the event.
Airbnb said that the partnership with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) would cover five Olympics and Paralympics over the next nine years. Financial details of the partnership were not disclosed.
IOC President Thomas Bach said that the partnership would not replace the Olympic village but would be based on a guarantee of accommodation for visitors, families of athletes, and officials, and would reduce the need for host cities to unsustainably invest in new hotels.
“One of the goals of (our) agenda is to make the Olympic Games more feasible and more sustainable,” Bach said at an event in London to announce the partnership. “There, this partnership will greatly help, because it will provide accommodation that will reduce the costs for the Olympic Games organisers and all the stakeholders.”
Locals staged protests at the last summer games in Rio de Janeiro because of the cost of hosting the event while Brazil was mired in recession.