America’s online travel agencies are increasingly looking to Europe for future growth.
“US internet travel companies have become the dominant players in Europe over the past several years by either buying competitors or increasing the share of their own businesses,” says the International Herald Tribune.
“As bookings in the United States have stalled for most online travel agencies, companies like Expedia, Travelocity, Priceline and others have found that their investments in foreign markets are paying off – especially in Europe, where their bookings jumped about 30% last year,” the newspaper added.
Said Jake Fuller, an analyst with Thomas the investment firm of Thomas Weisel Partner: “International has become a huge part of the story for this group as a whole. Bookings are growing faster, and they’re a significant piece of the pie now.”
Mr Fuller forecast that overall bookings at Expedia, Travelocity and Priceline would rise this year to $33 billion, as airlines, hotels and car-rental companies work to attract consumers directly to their own Web sites.
About 30% of U.S. travel is booked online, with room to grow possibly as high as 50%, according to Mr Fuller said.
But in Europe, online travel represents only about 20% of sales, and in Asia only about 12%. Because significant infrastructure hurdles still exist in markets like China, where credit card adoption lags that of Western markets, Europe is paying better dividends, according to the newspaper.
Report by David Wilkening
