Dodoma braces for Short Rental Summit aimed to position EAC in 11.7bn US dollars market

DAR ES SALAAM: THE Tanzania’s Short Rental Summit 2026 set from May 8 to 9 in Dodoma is geared to position Tanzania and East Africa countries within a regional market projected to reach 11.7bn US dollars by 2033.

This unique gathering is open to property owners and Airbnb hosts, real estate developers and investors, start-ups and pro-tech innovators, government and regulators, financial institutions as well as tourism and hospitality professionals.

Breaking the news today, April 27, in Dar es Salaam, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and founder East Africa Internet Group Mr Nickson Dawson revealed that this premier platform focuses on unlocking opportunities in the fast growing short term rental and digital hospitality sector across Tanzania and Africa.

“Globally, the short term rental market is valued at over 120 to 150bn US dollars, with projections exceeding 300bn to 400bn US dollars by 2033.

“Regionally, the Middle East and Africa Market is already worth about  5.4bn US dollars  in 2025 and expected to reach  11.7bn US dollars by 2033 growing over 10 percent annually thus according to grandviewresearch.com.

“At the platform level, companies like Airbnb are driving this transformation by digitizing accommodation access, enabling individuals to monetize property assets, and reshaping the tourism sector globally.

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“As such, this summit connects all stakeholders to ensure Tanzania and East Africans share this rapidly expanding digital economy,” he said.

Commenting on long lasting impacts that the summit is projected to stamp in Tanzania and Africa at large, he said it will help to drive investment into real estate and tourism.

“Similarly, it will accelerate adoption of platforms like Airbnb, Pumzika.africa, encourage regulatory frameworks for sustainable growth and empower local entrepreneurs to monetize property assets,” he said.

Also, he pointed out that according to statistics from The Africainvestor, Tanzania already has 3500 Airbnb listings, with 70 percent concentrated in Zanzibar whereas South Africa alone has 80,000 – 110,000 listings, showing the scale Africa can reach and it highlights a massive growth opportunity for Tanzania and East Africa.

“This summit is where the future of real estate, tourism, and digital platforms converge…try to consider this, Africa’s Airbnb market is growing fast but still at early stage, some markets are already generating over 20,000 US dollars annual revenue per listing in top cities like Capetown (AirdRoID),” Mr Dawson said.

He then urged people not to miss the summit as it has early mover advantage, access to investors, partners plus insight into profitable locations and models.

Meanwhile, East Africa Internet Group is a technology driven organization focused on building digital platforms that unlock economic value across Africa.