Airbnb’s Great Wall of China competition crumbles as heritage bureau fails to give green light
Promotion ‘not in line with conservation values’ and was not approved, Beijing Yanqing Cultural Commission says
Airbnb has been forced to cancel a promotion that offered competition winners the chance to spend a night on Great Wall of China after an official heritage body said it had not approved the plan.
“We understand and respect the opinions put forth by the Cultural Commission,” the room-booking app provider said on Weibo, China’s Twitter-like service, on Tuesday.
The statement, in Chinese, came in response to comments from the Beijing Yanqing Cultural Commission, which said on Monday night that it did not support the project as it “is not in line with the Great Wall’s heritage conservation values”.
The government bureau, which is responsible for the popular Badaling section of the wall, said on Weibo it had never approved any plans for the project from any organisation.
The Airbnb statement said it had been in talks with “relevant parties” over several months before launching the promotion.
“We have made the decision to not move forward with this event,” it said in a separate statement in English on Tuesday, adding that it had apologised to those who had already entered the competition.