Vacation rental has a 4,128 billion toman market in Iran (nearly one-billion-dollar market in Iran before the devaluation of Toman =10*Rial). That’s why Iranian startups are trying to tap into this market and bring it online.
A vacation rental is the renting out of a house, apartment, villa or any accommodation to a tourist as an alternative to hotels. This is the market that Airbnb is operating in. In the past three years, a few players have entered this market. This business model is an example of a shared economy in which individuals give services to each other and unlike the traditional model (hotels), people participate and earn money themselves.
In this model, the online platform connects tourists to hosts. Some of the advantages of this model are using the vacant capacity of people’s houses, apartments, and villas (any rentable accommodation) and helping them to rent their property for a short period of time.
This model noticeably decreases the cost of accommodation services for tourists, which in turn can help to stimulate the country’s economy. In addition to that, empowering this market can help local businesses and stores such as restaurants, recreational and commercial centers to grow too.
Comparing the 4,128 billion tomans vacation rental market to other sectors in Iran
Tourism in Iran has an estimated market size of 50,000 to 60,000 billion tomans annually which consists of different sectors. The vacation rental market with 4,128 billion tomans annual market size is a part of the tourism industry in Iran.
How is the vacation rental market size in comparison to the other parts of the tourism market?
- Local hotel annual market is about 4 to 5 thousand billion tomans
- The annual foreign hotel market is more than 1,500 billion tomans.
- The annual ecotourism market is about 2,000 billion tomans, which only a few of the vacation rental platforms have entered to.
- Annual bus ticket market is something about 3,000 billion tomans.
The Vacation rental market can also be compared to other startup sectors such as FinTech and transportation:
- The annual motorbike delivery market is about 4,000 billion.
- The annual ride-hailing market in Tehran and 7 other big cities is about 8,000 billion tomans. Approximately 70% of this market is online.
- The annual taxi change transaction market in Tehran and 7 other big cities is nearly 6,000 billion tomans.
The vacation rental market is bigger than most subsectors of tourism in Iran
What should be considered is that there are no official published report or market research in the markets that we just mentioned so far. That’s why TechRasa in partnership with Shab as a data partner has gathered all the information and analysis of this market.
The remarkable point is that only 2% of the vacation rentals are booked online which shows the potential of this market for online platforms. Note that the average commission rate for connecting the host to the guest is about 16.6%.
The vacation rental market size is greater than 4,128 billion tomans, but why?
First, the number of foreign tourists who visit the country is not included in this report.
Second, with the entrance of online platforms and easier access, the market will expand. A good example of this effect is Airbnb and Uber in other countries and Snapp and Tap30 in Iran. Startups that caused their target market to grow.
Average basket value of 711,000 tomans
In 2018, local tourists rented the accommodations in groups of 3.8 people for about 2.4 days on average. The cost of a vacation rental for 2.4 days, with the average daily rate of 293,000 tomans, is about 711,000 tomans.
The 31% share of vacation rentals versus the 25% share of the public and organizational accommodations
As shown in the infographic, 31% of the accommodations used by tourists are vacation rentals. This percentage is based on Per Person Per Night number in total. This means that tourists have used vacation rentals (with an overnight stay) more than any other type of accommodation. The share of the public (Hotels and etc. with 13%) and organizational (12%) accommodations is 25% in total.
5.8 million vacation rental bookings per year
In 2018, vacation rentals had nearly 5.8 million bookings. There were 24,000 owners and 64,000 properties. The notable point is that it has been the source of income for 103,000 people (directly and indirectly).
How did we calculate the vacation rental market size in Iran?
The main sources of this market research are the reports and surveys done by the Statistical Centre of Iran from 2008 to 2018 which is generally done just for the season of Spring. The main focus of these reports is on giving statistics on tourism in Iran.
However, we couldn’t calculate the market size only by these reports. We also needed these variables from online vacation rental platforms to calculate the market size:
- The average length of stay
- The average daily rate of vacation rentals
- The average number of guests per stay
- The annual average number of properties’ rented days
- The average number of properties owned by the host
- The average number of owner’s dependents
- Average commission rate
- The percentage of bookings done online
The required data are compiled directly from online vacation rental platforms: “Shab”, “Mizboon”, “Booking Villa”, “Moosem” and “Jajiga”.
For further information about the market size estimation, you can contact us via email or social media.
* Shab is the data partner of “Vacation Rentals in Iran” research, which provided us with their insights on the market. Shab is one of the leading vacation rental platforms in Iran.
Doing market research in various industries and areas is time and money consuming. With the growing number of startups and venture capitals and the tendency for data-driven decision makings, these kinds of market research and reports are vital.
References:
- Statistical Centre of Iran’s Tourism survey from 2008 to 2018
- Shab, Mizboon, Booking Villa, Moosem, Jajiga
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