Airbnb's 'heritage travel' section is for exploring 23andMe results
Whether it’s Southern Italy or Senegal, you can connect with your roots.
23andMe has partnered with Airbnb to let users literally explore their roots. The travel website now has a special "heritage travel" section divided into the genetic populations you'd find in a 23andMe ancestry report. The regions include Sub-Saharan Africa, North Africa and West Asia, Central America and Mexico, South America, East and South Asia, the Caribbean and Europe. After finding out where their ancestors hail from, 23andMe customers can click through to a specific region and plan a trip.
"Working with Airbnb, a leader who is reimagining travel, provides an exciting opportunity for our customers to connect with their heritage through deeply personal cultural and travel experiences," said 23andMe CEO and co-founder Anne Wojcicki in a press release. The rise of online genealogy services like 23andMe and Ancestry.com has sparked an interest in ancestry travel. These trips are widely popular in countries with a long history of immigration. According to Airbnb, the United States is the most popular place of origin for these "DNA" trips, followed by Canada, Australia, Mainland China, the UK, France, South Korea, New Zealand, Taiwan and Brazil.
Airbnb isn't the first company to tap into the popularity of DNA travel. Back in January, the airline AeroMexico launched a "DNA Discount" on flights for Americans who can prove they have Mexican DNA.
