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Opinion
Lionel Laurent

Will Airbnb Become Obsolete After the Coronavirus?

The world’s most-visited cities are deserted. When the virus passes, they will be durably changed.

Actually, for now she doesn’t need protection from hoards of tourists.

Actually, for now she doesn’t need protection from hoards of tourists.

Photographer: Pau Barrena/AFP via Getty images

Until recently, Airbnb Inc. encapsulated the first-world problems of living in a global “superstar” city.

Over the past decade, the app that connects fly-by-night tourists and short-term renters to “cozy” lofts and five-star “experiences” morphed into a gig-economy nightmare for cities like Paris, Amsterdam and Barcelona. Booming demand fueled an over-supply of tourists, an under-supply of housing for locals and extra strain on public infrastructure. Scammers and fraudsters prospered. Many cities began a clamp-down.