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Exploring the Socio-Spatial Inequalities of Airbnb in Sofia, Bulgaria Maartje

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Exploring the Socio-Spatial Inequalities of Airbnb in Sofia, Bulgaria Maartje 2018 Vol. 72 · No. 4 · 313–327 EXPLORING THE SOCIO-SPATIAL INEQUALITIES OF AIRBNB IN SOFIA, BULGARIA MAARTJE ROELOFSEN With 4 figures Received 21 May 2018 · Accepted 26 November 2018 Summary: The objective of this article is to provide an analysis of the spatialities of Airbnb in Sofia, Bulgaria. Relying on an analysis of both quantitative and qualitative data, this article firstly explores the diffusion and concentration of Airbnb listings in the city’s districts. It questions whether the platform’s self-proclaimed contribution to a more diversified offering of tourism accommodation indeed applies to the context of Sofia. It then identifies which listings are most popular among Airbnb guests, and examines who reaps the benefits and profits from this “sharing” economy and who does not. In doing so, this article aims to provide a more nuanced understanding of the power relations in the production and consumption of Airbnb experiences. Whilst discussing the socio-spatial impacts of Airbnb in Sofia, this article takes into account some of the broader urban transformations that have taken place in the city since the end of the socialist regime in 1989. The findings suggest that the large majority of Airbnb listings tend to concentrate in those districts that are marked by commercialization and gentrification and are home to a privileged higher-income population. These areas generally also already benefit from a high concentration of official tourism accommodation and tourist attractions. As such, the article concludes that, like in other European cities, Airbnb benefits a selective number of hosts and potentially further exacerbates an already problematic private rental market. Zusammenfassung: Dieser Artikel analysiert die Verbreitung von Airbnb in Sofia, Bulgarien. Basierend auf einer Analyse sowohl quantitativer als auch qualitativer Daten, wird zunächst die Verteilung und Konzentration von Airbnb-Unterkünften in verschiedenen Stadtteilen untersucht. Es wird der Frage nachgegangen, ob die Plattform dem selbst gesetzten Anspruch, einer Steigerung der Vielfalt touristischer Unterkünfte, im Falle der Stadt Sofia tatsächlich gerecht wird. Anschließend wird analysiert, welche Angebote bei den Airbnb-Gästen am beliebtesten sind und untersucht, wer Nutzen und Gewinn aus dieser ‚Sharing Economy‘ zieht und wer nicht. Dabei zielt dieser Artikel auf ein differenzierteres Verständnis der Machtverhältnis- se zwischen Angebot und Nutzung von Airbnb. Bei der Erörterung der sozial-räumlichen Auswirkungen von Airbnb in Sofia werden einige der umfassenden Transformationen der Stadt berücksichtigt, die seit dem Ende des sozialistischen Regimes 1989 stattgefunden haben. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass sich die große Mehrheit der Airbnb-Angebote tendenziell auf Stadt- teile konzentriert, die von Kommerzialisierung und Gentrifizierung geprägt sind und von einer privilegierten Bevölkerung mit höherem Einkommen bewohnt werden. In der Regel profitieren diese Gebiete bereits von einer hohen Konzentration an offiziellen touristischen Unterkünften und touristischen Attraktionen. Aus diesem Grund kommt der Artikel zu dem Schluss, dass Airbnb in Sofia, wie in anderen europäischen Städten auch, einer selektiven Anzahl von Gastgebern zugute kommt und dazu beiträgt, den ohnehin schon problematischen privaten Mietmarkt weiter zu verschärfen. Keywords: urban geography, tourism, gentrification, short-term rental,Airbnb , Sofia 1 Introduction its networking technologies, Airbnb connects people who seek to rent or rent out residential housing for a In the last few years, a growing body of litera- short period of time, usually for travel and tourism ture has analysed the effects of short-term rental purposes. Airbnb’s operational sophistication and its platforms on specific urban contexts (for example, relatively unregulated and unrestricted status have ALIZADEH et al. 2018; ARIAS SANS and QUAGLIERI arguably made it one of the most popular ‘sharing DOMÍNGUEZ 2016; CÓCOLA-GANT 2016; FERRERI and economy’ platforms in the world. The platform has SANYAL 2018; FREYTAG and BAUDER 2018; GURRAN facilitated over 400 million guest arrivals since its in- and PHIbbS 2017; GUTTENTAG 2015; HORN and ception in 2008 and now lists over 5 million proper- MERANTE 2017; IOANNIDES et al. 2018; LEE 2016; ties around the globe (AIRBNB 2018a). It is currently MERMET 2017; OPILLARD 2016; WACHSMUTH and valued $30 billion, making it one of the most valua- WEISLER 2018). Among these studies, the Airbnb plat- ble start-ups in the United States, where the platform form is the most frequently discussed case. Through was first conceived of (HOOK 2018). https://doi.org/10.3112/erdkunde.2018.04.04 ISSN 0014-0015 http://www.erdkunde.uni-bonn.de 314 Vol. 72 · No. 4 The objective of this article is to explore the and who does not. Whilst mapping out the listings spatialities of Airbnb in Bulgaria’s capital, Sofia. It and the hosts’ profiles, I simultaneously reflect on aims to provide empirical evidence of Airbnb listings some of Airbnb’s claims about its alleged positive in Sofia’s districts, whilst considering some of the economic impacts on ‘communities’ worldwide (see broader processes of urban transformation that have AIRBNB 2018b; but also ROELOFSEN and MINCA 2018). taken place in the city in the last decades. Although In doing so, this article intends to provide a more Sofia receives a moderate number of tourists com- nuanced understanding of the power relations in the pared to other European cities that have been stud- production and consumption of ‘Airbnb experiences’. ied in relation to the ‘Airbnb-effect’ (ADAMIAK 2018), In order to measure these impacts of Airbnb, I take it has allegedly been witnessing an ‘unprecedented into consideration the locations of the hosts’ listings, tourism boom’ in recent years (SIA 2018; STA 2016; analyse the number of times these listings have been 2017; UNWTO 2016). The local government and the reviewed by guests, and finally carry out a qualitative Ministry of Tourism have generally applauded this analysis of the hosts’ biographies. This article forms boom, as it further fits in their broader plans to at- the concluding part of a triptych in which I discuss tract foreign companies, entrepreneurs and startups how three different spatial scales – that of the body, to invest in the city (SIA 2018). However, there is the home, and the city – interrelate and overlap in also a burgeoning sense that tourism development the Airbnb economy in order to unveil the spatial, needs to unfold ‘sustainably’ in the country, and that political and ethical implications of the platform platform economies like Airbnb have a role to play in (ROELOFSEN 2018; ROELOFSEN and MINCA 2018; see this (European Council 2018). During an Informal also MOLZ 2018). Drawing on the work of scholars in Meeting between the European Ministers of urban- and tourism studies, and especially inspired Tourism held in Sofia in February 2018, a European by approaches taken in the work of ARIAS SANS and directive was discussed in order to regulate the flour- QUAGLIERI DOMÍNGUEZ (2016) and CÓCOLA GANT ishing short-term rental platforms, including Airbnb (2016), I rely on a mixed method research approach. (ibid.). Estimates of Airbnb listings in Bulgaria re- By combining a content analysis of qualitative user- main largely unclear, while the majority of listings on generated data with a statistical analysis of quantita- these platforms are not registered with the Ministry tive closed-ended data, I wish to analyse, interpret of Tourism as official tourism accommodations and connect different aspects of the platform’s so- (CAPITAL 2017; DIMITROV 2018). This effectively al- cial-spatial impacts in their complexity. lows accommodation providers on the platform to evade tourist taxes on overnight stays and dismiss the regulations that other actors in the industry have 2 Tourism, tourism controversies and Airbnb to comply with (ibid.). This article argues, however, that the rise of Writing in 1975 about the rise of the ‘Golden Airbnb in Sofia needs to be considered beyond its Horde’ –a new ‘tribe’ of Mass Tourists– TURNER and effects on the hospitality industry and its non-com- ASH cynically argued that international tourism might pliance with regulations. It wishes in fact to reflect just as well be understood as “a device for the system- on some of the broader spatial processes of transfor- atic destruction of everything that is beautiful in the mation that have occurred in the city since the end world” (1975, 15). Although TURNER and ASH’s highly of the socialist regime in 1989 and investigates how influential work was flawed for various reasons (see platforms like Airbnb are imbricated in or exacerbate BRITTON 1977), it was one of the earlier attempts to such processes. In doing so, this study relies on an chart through a genealogical approach the adverse analysis of listing data that were extracted from the impacts of tourism on social, environmental and eco- platform in 2015 and in 2018. First, I take stock of nomic livelihoods. At around the same time, the term the diffusion and concentration of Airbnb listings ‘sustainable development’ was first coined bearing in Sofia’s neighbourhoods against the backdrop of the promise of supposedly ‘mitigating’ tourism’s neg- broader urban transformations in the city’s districts. ative impacts (see HANNAM and KNOX 2010, 129; also Here I also examine how Airbnb contributes to a MOWFORTH and MUNT 2003). Among other ‘tools’ of supposedly more ‘diversified’ offering of
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