, Columnist
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.
Photographer: Pau Barrena/AFP via Getty images
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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.