NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Thursday, June 27, 2019

By Yomi Kazeem

It’s unlikely that Lagos, Nigeria’s bustling economic hub, ranks very high on the bucket list of tourists who want to visit Africa.

Unlike cities in South Africa, Mauritius or Morocco, Lagos is known more for its ever-busy business district than for any picturesque tourism hot spots. Yet, Africa’s mega-city, home to 21 million people, is one of the fastest-growing markets globally for Airbnb, the travel and accommodation startup. Alongside African counterparts in Ghana and Mozambique, Nigeria, largely thanks to Lagos, was ranked among Airbnb’s eight fastest growing markets globally last year.

That growth trajectory is reflected in the growing supply of Airbnb listings in the city, as data from vacation rental data firm AirDNA shows. Between May 2018 and May 2019, available Airbnb listings in Lagos have nearly doubled.

Photo courtesy of Leander Wattig.