Sharing economy development paths in non-urban areas. The case of hospitality product in polish national parks

Although the recent rise of sharing economy platforms revolutionized hospitality market around the world, its impact is unevenly distributed, as a majority of new P2P accommodation providers emerged in urban areas. The aim of this study is to provide sharing economy development paths in areas surrounding all 23 national parks in Poland. This study is conducted basing on data from online observation of 2 sharing economy platforms development with data gathered from official census. Results show that sharing economy is still in its nascent stage in non-urban areas; there is a strong positive relationship between sharing economy accommodation establishments and both the population density and income per capita, population density and income per capita have no effect on the ratio between the number of traditional and sharing economy accommodation establishments. This study contributes to existing literature in following areas: it assesses the sharing economy phenomenon in areas with natural attractions, it validates the relationship between area population density and sharing economy proliferation, it examines the connection between area economic performance and sharing economy proliferation.