Tourism clusters and peer-to-peer accommodation

This study examines the importance of tourism clusters in peer-to-peer accommodation. Based on a rich dataset of 112,748 Airbnb listings in Florida, one of the top U.S. tourism destinations, this study uses geographically weighted regression to explore the spatially heterogeneous effects of tourism clusters on Airbnb performance across individual counties (intraregional clusters) and neighboring counties (interregional clusters). The results indicate that overall tourism clusters, especially in the industries of accommodation and food services, lead to superior Airbnb performance, but the tourism clusters-Airbnb performance relationship varies across industry and region, confirming the existence of intraregional and interregional clusters. These findings can help Airbnb hosts and tourism policymakers in other regions implement localized tourism industry strategies for maximizing Airbnb performance.