Market Forecast for the Sharing Economy, Using Airbnb in US Cities and in Taipei as an Example

ABSTRACT This study aims to shed light on the prospects of the sharing economy by taking Airbnb as an example. We firstly collected listing data of Airbnb to analyze the growth patterns using the diffusion model for Taiwan and major cities in the United States. Afterward, we applied the Lotka–Volterra (LV) competition model to study the relationship between the Airbnb and local hotel industry in Taiwan with data from the Tourism Bureau of Taiwan. The study found that growth rates have been reaching their limits in both sets of markets. Moreover, the competition between Airbnb and the local hotel industry in Metro Taipei reflects a predator-and-prey relationship.