Sharing Economy in Travel and Tourism: The Case of Home-Swapping in Italy

“Sharing Economy in Travel and Tourism: The Case of Home-Swapping in Italy“. This is the title of the article that has been recently published on Taylor & Francis Online, by Francesca Forno and Roberta Garibaldi (University of Bergamo, Italy).
The issue deals with home-swapping, a formula that allows tourists to organize made-to-measure tours without seeking the services of travel mediators and with the only cost of making their own home available. This article presents the results of an in-depth study into Italian home-swappers and discusses their socio-economic profiles, motivations, and lifestyles. As the data analysis points out, home-swapping is an alternative form of tourism which requires trust, open-mindedness, inventiveness, enthusiasm, and flexibility. While the economic aspect is arguably one of the key driving factors when opting for this type of travelling accommodation, it cannot account for the current popularity of the social phenomenon alone.
It is available at: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1528008X.2015.1013409.