Airbnb announced Tuesday that it will stop listing short-term rental properties in China and instead focus its business there on serving Chinese tourists looking for lodgings abroad.

Airbnb joins a series of foreign internet companies, including Yahoo and eBay, that pulled out of China after running into fierce local competition and regulatory barriers.

"We have made the difficult decision to refocus our efforts in China on outbound travel and suspend our homes and Experiences of Hosts in China, starting from July 30, 2022," said the chief strategy officer of Airbnb China, Nathan Blecharczyk, in a statement on its social media account.

The Chinese government has blocked foreign tourists from visiting since the COVID-19 pandemic erupted in early 2020, and officials have told the Chinese public to avoid foreign travel that isn't essential for business or study.

China has doubled down on its "zero-COVID" strategy that's forced millions to stay isolated in their homes and are causing labor shortages and broken supply lines, and U.S. companies have warned they will cost both China's and the world's economy billions of dollars.

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