At the foot of the Acropolis hill, in the touristic Koukaki district in Greece, the coronavirus lockdown has silenced the sound of Airbnb customers' wheeled luggage.

The tourist industry in Athens, as in many other European capitals, has ground to a halt, with planes grounded and restaurants, museums and archaeological monuments all closed.

Owners of small apartments in Koukaki, who had been renting them on the Airbnb platform in order to provide income during the financial crisis, are once again struggling.

The hard-hit American home-sharing platform, Airbnb, announced on Tuesday that it will slash a quarter of its work force — some 1,900 people all around the world.

"We are collectively living through the most harrowing crisis of our lifetime," Airbnb co-founder and chief executive Brian Chesky said in a blog post.

Read the full AFP story here.