Geographical Dimensions and Spatial Characteristics of Home-sharing in Muğla
Project no. 22657 · Status: Kapanmış · 2021
Summary
<p>Sharing economy has become one of the most critical phenomena in the tourism geography literature by expanding the intersection between tourism and geography disciplines in recent years. The accommodation sector is one of the most affected areas by this phenomenon. Airbnb started its activities in San Francisco, USA in 2007, and is one of the digital platforms that emerged within the sharing economy. The platform provides people with alternative accommodation in the features and locations they want during their travels and allows homeowners to earn additional income from their idle homes or rooms. It has grown into a gigantic structure with more than 7 million listings in more than 100,000 cities short time. Listings on the platform tend to increase rapidly in Turkey's metropolitan cities and tourism centers on the Aegean and Mediterranean coasts.</p><p><br></p><p>The increasing density of Airbnb listings in specific destinations has brought many economic and socio-spatial problems. One of the most effective ways to observe these effects’ current and possible status is to present the listings' geographical dimensions and spatial characteristics. In this project, the temporal variation of short-term rentals in Muğla has been revealed, and distribution-density maps of listings at different spatial scales were prepared with various spatial analysis methods. The number of active Airbnb listings has a regularly increasing trend in Muğla. Bodrum, Fethiye, and Marmaris are the districts with the highest number of Airbnb listings, and listings are concentrated in the neighborhoods that have or are close to the seashores. It was found that there is a significant relationship between the spatial clusters of Airbnb listings and official accommodation facilities. The commercialization and professionalization of Airbnb activities in Muğla exacerbate the problems related to accommodation. Also, the COVID-19 pandemic has deeply affected the structure of Airbnb activities.</p><p><br></p><p><strong>Key words</strong>: Tourism Geography, Airbnb, Touristic Home Sharing, Spatial Analysis, Muğla</p>