Airbnb Neighbourhoods: Tourism Discourse in the Sharing Economy

Abstract

Sharing economy relies on a business model where private individuals share goods or services. Transactions are facilitated by online platforms, where intermediary companies connect providers with users and try to create a sense of belonging to a virtual community that shares certain values. This paper attempts to investigate the features of touristic discourse of one of the most successful companies in the sharing economy, Airbnb, and its Neighborhood guides.

Airbnb Neighborhood guides belong to a wider discourse practice which tries to foster the sense of belonging to a virtual community that shares a specific attitude towards tourism. Multimodality, strategies of representation and ego-targeting and rethorical moves that convey a specific vision of tourism as a local experience are amongst the main features of Airbnb tourism discourse.