Biggest Online Travel Agencies In The World – Online travel agencies (OTAs) have become ubiquitous over the past 25 years as the Internet has changed the way we see the world.
(gross booking is the price of reservations made by travelers, for example, the price of their stay or flight tickets)
Biggest Online Travel Agencies In The World
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Both Booking and Expedia followed a multi-brand strategy, acquiring different travel agencies (sometimes even competing services) in many sectors such as hotels, vacation rentals, flights, car rentals, etc.
Blue Devices Top View Travel Agency 3d Rendering Stock Photo
Priceline’s acquisition of Booking in 2005 is probably one of the best technology acquisitions ever (right up there with YouTube and Instagram).
It is interesting to note that Airbnb, unlike the other two, has grown primarily as a place to book other people’s homes/vacation rentals. However, when Hotel Aawa was found in 2019, it also began to launch into other sectors such as hotels.
It generated ~$68 billion in gross bookings in 2021 and has brands such as Trip.com, Skyscanner, Ctrip, Qunar and Travix. However, the average commission rate is much lower (4.6%), leading to $3.1 billion in revenue by 2021.
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2022 has been a year of revenge travel so far. After being closed for two years, people are eager to get out and travel again.
Looking at overall OTA bookings, both Booking and AirBnB have not fully recovered from the 2020 COVID-19 decline, but have significantly increased their pre-pandemic (2019) numbers.
Expedia, in particular, has not been successful. Its Q2-22 gross bookings were still 8% below Q2-19 numbers.
Although overall bookings were not good, revenue actually rose 6.4%, from $3 billion in Q2-19 to $3.2 billion in Q2-22.
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This was largely explained by the increase in revenue from the accommodation business, an extreme industry, which saw its total commission rate change from 11% in Q2-21 to ~12% in Q2-22.
However, things looked bleak for AirBnB in the wake of the disaster. He had to plan an IPO and fire 25% of his staff.
In 2019, Expedia and Booking both spent $5 billion on direct marketing costs. This is the money that is primarily spent on things like successful marketing (eg Google Ad Spend), affiliate commissions for buying traffic and sending to websites and apps.
While both Expedia and Booking have since returned to their old expensive ways (increasingly, see chart above), AirBnB had a different take.
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In 2020, when no one is traveling, AirBnB has understandably scaled back most of its marketing materials. But even before he continued the charge, he noticed that most of the traffic came back on its own (like the power of his signal). Read more here
This has led to a permanent change in marketing strategy – a shift from performance marketing (eg buying views/clicks on digital channels) to premium brand marketing / PR marketing.
“We will never go back to spending the same amount of money on marketing as a percentage of revenue that we did in 2019,” Chesky told CNBC in an interview after the annual results.
The results so far have been impressive. Both in 2021 and the first half of 22, AirBnB’s revenue grew to record levels, while marketing costs fell to only 20% of revenue. That’s less than half of its main competitors like Expedia and Booking! Behind every great vacation or business trip is one of the biggest travel companies that help make it happen.
Ranked: The 100 Biggest Public Companies In The World
Thanks to ten of the world’s largest travel companies, you can book your flight, hotel, tour, car rental and more, mostly on one website. These companies can serve both businesses and consumers (often both) and are the largest contributors to the global economic contribution of the travel industry of approximately $5.8 trillion in 2021.
Since the widespread use of the Internet, the travel industry has split into two distinct sectors. A traditional travel agency is one where most customers interact personally with the travel agent, and these have been around for decades. Today, the biggest travel companies are all online and skip face-to-face interaction, opting for integrated methods that work for all types of travel.
Whether you’re planning your next trip or want to, we’ve compiled a list of the world’s top 10 travel companies and what they do.
Fareportal is one of the largest travel companies in the world, integrating technology and travel into the tenth largest travel company. With five different brands under the umbrella such as CheapOair, OneTravel and Travelong, Fareportal operates in North America, Europe and Asia.
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Because the company is privately held, its revenue is not publicly disclosed, but it is expected to reach more than $2 billion in gross sales by 2021.
As part of the Fareportal business, they work with more than 500 airlines, one million hotels and hundreds of car agencies worldwide to book leisure air travel and manage business travel.
Fareportal offers 24-hour online travel expertise and certified travel agents who can help you one-on-one. Founded in 2002 by Sam S. Jain, Fareportal notes that they have more than 2,000 employees in five different regions and 20 different languages available to assist travelers.
Headquartered in Centennial, Colorado, Travel Direct is a travel management company specializing in the “middle market” travel segment. This specialization allows Direct Travel to focus on business travel, meetings and events and leisure travel. Founded in 1980 by Ed Adams, Direct Travel has more than 2,000 employees and is projected to have approximately $5.4 billion in sales by 2021.
Oct Nov 2014
With more than 60 locations across the United States and Canada, they focus on business travel sales, which account for more than 80% of the company’s total revenue.
Direct Travel believes in offering its customers a complete service by offering all kinds of extras to its customers, from program management, travel safety and security advice, en route passenger support and international services. Travel Live’s stand-alone service is its Travel Information website, which advises business and leisure travelers on all travel requirements, including information such as the COVID-19 vaccine, anywhere in the world.
American Express Travel, the American Express Company credit card, is dedicated to being a destination for leisure travel. Founded in 1850, American Express is now headquartered in New York. American Express has been helping customers travel since 1891 and the introduction of the first traveler’s check, while American Express Travel was founded in 1915. Their sales in 2021 exceeded $6.7 billion.
The company focuses on flights, hotels and both, as well as car rentals and tours. While website users are not required to use an American Express card to book, there are many benefits to doing so, including rewards programs that accumulate points that can be used for future travel.
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There are also various benefits when you book with American Express Travel, such as special offers on certain types of hotels and low fares through international airline partnerships.
Internova is a privately held company that serves customers worldwide and various types of travel. The New York-based company owns more than 20 different brands in the travel industry. With more than 70,000 travel advisors worldwide in 6,000 company-owned travel agencies, the company will generate approximately $7.12 billion in sales by 2021.
Founded in 2008, Internova supports travel in more than 80 countries through its core brands such as Travel Leaders, Travel Leaders Network, CruCon Cruise Outlet, Cruise Experts, Road Trips and others. Each brand focuses on one of Internova’s four main segments: Business & Entertainment, Premium Travel, Web, Hospitality & Vacations, and Hotel Wholesale.
In 2020, founder and chairman Michael Batt transformed the company from Travel Leaders Group to Internova to unify all of the company’s business units into one modern model.
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The sixth largest travel company in the world and the first not based in the United States, Airline Travel Group is headquartered in Brisbane, Australia. Founded in 1982, the Aviation Center Travel Group operates in various regions: Australia and New Zealand, North America, Asia, Europe and South Africa. In addition to these locations, the Global Corporate Travel Network, or FCM Travel Solutions, is expanding into 90 countries through strategic licensing agreements.
The Flight Center Travel Group, which is expected to generate more than $16 billion in sales by 2021, employs more than 20,000 people to support its extensive reach. Focusing on their love of travel, Flight Center, has been helped to succeed under the leadership of CEO Graham “Skroo” Turner.
In total, Turner oversees more than 35 different brands, all of which live under the umbrella of the Aviation Center Travel Group, offering leisure and corporate travel services.
CWT, formerly known as Carlson Wagonlit Travel, is a business-focused travel company. Founded in 1994 and headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the company is on track to reach $25 billion in revenue by 2021.
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CWT is proud to focus on making business travel easier so employees don’t get stranded
