Airbnb’s Best of British Winners Are Quietly Reshaping UK Tourism

A £1 million investment. Twenty-five winners selected from thousands of applications. And a clear message from one of the world’s biggest travel platforms: the future of British tourism isn’t in the most-visited cities — it’s in the communities most travellers have never heard of.

Airbnb has announced the inaugural winners of its Best of British Fund, a programme developed in partnership with VisitBritain that distributes direct funding to community-led tourism projects across the United Kingdom. The initiative is designed to support small enterprises that preserve local traditions, strengthen regional hospitality, and draw visitors to destinations well beyond the country’s familiar tourist trail.

It’s a significant moment for grassroots tourism in the UK — and for the local economies that have struggled to recover from years of pandemic disruption and cost-of-living pressures.

What the Best of British Fund Actually Is

The Best of British Fund is a £1 million commitment from Airbnb, created to recognise and invest in community-rooted tourism projects throughout the UK. Rather than directing attention toward mainstream attractions, the fund specifically targets experiences that are grounded in place, culture, and local identity.

The partnership with VisitBritain — the national tourism agency — gives the initiative significant reach and credibility. Together, the two organisations assessed thousands of applications from businesses and projects across England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland before selecting twenty-five winners to receive direct funding.

Supporters of the scheme argue that this kind of targeted investment is exactly what the UK’s hospitality sector needs. Job losses and business closures have hit local economies hard in recent years, and smaller tourism enterprises — the kind that don’t have marketing budgets or major brand recognition — have often been the most vulnerable.

Why This Fund Matters for Communities Beyond the Tourist Trail

There’s a well-documented problem in British tourism: visitor spending is heavily concentrated in a handful of places. London, Edinburgh, Bath, the Cotswolds — these destinations absorb enormous volumes of tourist traffic, while countless other parts of the country go largely unnoticed by international and domestic visitors alike.

The Best of British Fund is a direct response to that imbalance. By selecting twenty-five winners from a national pool of thousands of applicants, Airbnb and VisitBritain are actively trying to redistribute tourism interest — and tourism income — to places that don’t usually make the shortlist.

The winning projects represent what organisers describe as the creativity, resilience, and vibrancy of small enterprises working to preserve local traditions and invite travellers into authentic British experiences. That framing matters: this isn’t just about economic recovery. It’s about what gets lost when small, culturally distinctive businesses can’t survive.

Key Facts About the Best of British Fund

What the fund offers winners goes beyond a financial boost. Being selected by Airbnb and VisitBritain gives these projects a platform — visibility with the kind of audience that actively seeks out distinctive, off-the-beaten-path travel experiences.

• Winners were chosen for their ability to preserve local traditions and culture
• Projects span destinations across the UK, not just major urban centres
• The fund is described as Airbnb’s inaugural investment of this kind in Britain
• Winning businesses will receive direct funding to grow their offerings and attract visitors
• The initiative targets experiences that go beyond mainstream attractions

Who This Actually Affects — and How

For the twenty-five winning projects, the immediate impact is practical: direct funding to expand what they offer and reach new audiences. For many small hospitality and tourism businesses, that kind of capital can mean the difference between surviving another season and closing permanently.

But the broader impact stretches further. When travellers are guided toward lesser-known destinations, local economies benefit in ways that extend well beyond the businesses themselves. Accommodation providers, local restaurants, transport operators, and retailers all see the ripple effects when visitor numbers increase in areas that don’t usually attract them.

For travellers, the fund signals something useful: there is a curated, vetted list of genuinely distinctive British experiences now backed by two major organisations. If you’re planning a UK trip and want something more than the standard itinerary, the Best of British winners offer a ready-made starting point.

The UK’s hospitality sector has faced compounding pressures — pandemic recovery, staffing shortages, rising operating costs, and shifting travel patterns. Advocates for community tourism argue that schemes like this one provide a model for how the industry can rebuild in a way that spreads benefit more evenly across the country, rather than intensifying pressure on already over-visited places.

What Comes Next for the Winning Projects

With funding confirmed and the announcement now public, the twenty-five winners will be working to develop and expand their offerings. The goal, as framed by the fund’s organisers, is to grow their capacity to attract visitors — which means more travellers discovering corners of Britain they might never have considered.

As an inaugural fund, this also sets a precedent. The Best of British initiative represents Airbnb’s first major investment of this kind in the UK, and its success — measured by how effectively it drives tourism to participating communities — will likely shape how the company approaches similar programmes in the future.

For now, the focus is on the twenty-five communities that earned a place in this first cohort, and on the visitors who will find their way to them as a result.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Airbnb Best of British Fund?
It is a £1 million fund launched by Airbnb in partnership with VisitBritain to support and recognise community-led tourism projects across the United Kingdom.

How many projects were selected as winners?
Twenty-five projects were selected as winners from thousands of applications submitted from across the UK.

Who did Airbnb partner with to run this fund?
The fund was developed in partnership with VisitBritain, the UK’s national tourism agency.

What kinds of projects does the fund support?
The fund targets small enterprises that preserve local traditions, strengthen regional hospitality, and offer authentic British experiences beyond mainstream tourist destinations.

Is this the first time Airbnb has run this fund in the UK?
Yes —

Can other businesses apply for future rounds of the fund?
This has not yet been confirmed in the available source material. Further details about future application rounds have not been announced.