About half of American travelers will use services like Airbnb, Uber and Lyft this summer, signaling a rise in consumer confidence in the sharing economy.
According to the newly released Allianz Travel Insurance Sharing Economy Index, the popularity of the sharing economy has tripled within two years.
In 2015, only 17 per cent of Americans said there were likely to book a ride or rental from strangers. That spiked to 36 per cent in 2016, and 50 per cent in 2017.
The report was based on the responses of 1,009 Americans from an online Ipsos I-Say survey.
The brands that saw the biggest jump in familiarity between 2015 and 2017 include ride-share service Lyft (up 41 points from 2015 to 56 per cent in 2017), Uber (up 38 points to 73 per cent in 2017) and Airbnb, with 51 per cent familiarity (up 32 percent from 2015).
Compared to traditional travel services, Americans said they see better value in the sharing economy (35 per cent in 2017, up 9 per cent from last year), and believe they offer more authentic experiences (33 per cent, up 11 per cent).
But though consumers may be more familiar with the concept, only 17 per cent of respondents said they are "very trusting" of the services, while 83 per cent of Americans said they are at least "somewhat skeptical."
