SPATIAL AND TEMPORAL DISTRIBUTION OF LISTINGS ON AIRBNB AND BOOKING.COM AS SHARING ECONOMY PLATFORMS IN THE TOURISM DESTINATION OF MARAMURES LAND ROMANIA

Abstract

The innovations brought by the sharing economy model through digital booking platforms have produced changes in the dynamic of the accommodation supply in many tourism destinations. The fastness with which changes occur has left this market segment either largely unaccounted for statistically, or poorly regulated, and Maramureș Land, a known cultural and rural tourism destination with inherent regional and local particularities, is no exception. The study raises the issue of evidence regarding the level of adoption and the true scale of the accommodation supply in the area by focusing on listings from two of the most popular digital booking platforms – Booking.com and Airbnb, an aspect that can support policy-making adapted to its specific characteristics. These objectives were pursued through an empirical methodological approach to map the spatiotemporal distribution of listings from the area of Maramureș Land between 2010 and 2023. The methodology assumed the creation of an M.Excel database with all listings from the area, the extraction of descriptive variables and coordinates, the conversion of coordinates into vector point data, and the subsequent analysis using vector and attribute data processing instruments in QGIS.