Airbnb China to suspend rental and tourism activity service on Chinese mainland from July 30

Brian Chesky, co-founder and CEO of Airbnb, announced the Chinese name for Airbnb China branch in Shanghai on March 22, 2017. (Xinhua/Liu Ying)

BEIJING, May 25 (Xinhua) --The China branch of the U.S.-based vacation rental and tourism activity service provider Airbnb announced on Tuesday that it will suspend services on the Chinese mainland starting from July 30 and shift focus to outbound travel.

The company will only serve outbound travellers as it expects outbound tourism to rebound after COVID-19 subsides and borders reopen, it said in a letter to its users posted on its Chinese website.

In response, Chinese online travel portal Fliggy, as well as homestay reservation platform Xiaozhu said they have launched services to help previous Airbnb hosts  to upload their rental information with fast-track review and go back to business as soon as possible.