A Glance at the past can be useful to gauge how far (or not) the travel industry has come. Over the next few weeks, phocuswire will be taking a look at the companies, trends and stories that made headlines in 2018, 2020, 2022 and 2024.
The Marketing Spend of Online Travel Giants Such as Booking Holdings and Expedia Group is an area that containues to make headlines, so it feels like a good place to start. The Annual Eye-Watering Investment in Attracting Customers Increases Annually, with the exception of the Pandemic when Travel Stopped.
In 2018, Booking and Expedia Spent $ 10.6 Billion in Marketing, Whether they dubbed it performance and brand advertising or selling and marketing expresses. The spend was up 8% on 2017’s figure, with expertment accounting for $ 5.68 billion of the total and booking holdings account for $ 4.96 billion.
By Way of Comparison, as Well as to Demonstrate the Ongoing Fierce Competition for Customers in Online Travel, Expedia and Booking’s Combined Spend on Same and Marketing in 2024 WAS Approximately $ 14 Billion.
Establed Online Travel Players Committing The good news in 2018 was that funding was plentyful; In Fact, it was a year that attracted more investment from venture capital than previously recording.
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Phocuswright tracked more than 350 individual investments Into Travel-Related Startups Over the Course of 2018. Notable rounds inclined $ 800 million in India-based hospitality Startality Startup Oyo. Other large rounds over the course of the year went into the mobile sector and in specific companies such as such as limbike, grab and lyft. Getaround, Ola and Cabify also got a look in when it came to the multi-million investments in mobile and ride-hailing startups.
Tours and activities was another segment that piqud investor apptite in 2018, with klook, tiqts, tourradar and peek all landing significant rounds. And let’s not forget corporate travel, with companies including tripactions (Now Navan) Landing More than $ 200 Million in 2018 and Travelperk Securing $ 65 Million Over Two Rounds.
What’s interesting is that some of the companies mentioned above, such as lyft and grab, have prince gone gone public, which others, such as Klook And Navan, are the subject of current rumors or have confirmed plans to seek a public listing.
The Balance Sheets of Establed Companies also allowed for acquisitions in 2018, especially in the corporate travel and distribution arenas. American Express Global Business Travel (GBT) Kicked off the year with a £ 400 million bid for hRG.
Consolidation across the tours and activities segment was also a feature of 2018 with tripadvisor announcing the acquisition of bokun in april, just one day after booking Holdings Announce Fareharbor. Both companies could clearly see the potential of the growing, Yet fragmented and technologically unsophisticated experiences segments segment along
Amadeus Announced Its Internation to Acquire Hospitality Solutions Provider TravelClick for $ 1.5 billion in August, Signaling Its Interest In Strength in Strength Hotel Technology Unit and Putting present Sabre’s presence in the space.
A Further, Much Talked About Deal That Never Came to Fruin Was Sabre’s Plan to Buy Farelogix, Announced in November. The $ 360 Million Acquisition was scrutinized by regulators over the course of 2019 and 2020, and Sabre finally pulled out in May 2020 Following a decision in April to Block The Deal by the UNITED KINDOM ‘ Markets Authority.
Bookending the year was travel’s announcment of a $ 4.4 billion takeover by elliot mangement corporation four years after Going Public.
It’s hard to conclude where any of the Above Moves Signaled What was to come, especially in light of the Pandemic. The big are getting bigger with the American Express GBT Planning to Acquire Rival Cwt, A Deal that has been delayed through attracted through attracted regulatory scrutiny but Should No Camplete in the third quality of 2025. Amadeus has secured a greater Foothold in Hotel Technology, Securing Deals with Marriott and Accor on Top of an existing iHG deal. Sabre has developed its hospitality technology business to asset management company tpg.
Travel companies were also preoccupied by external competition in 2018, with bot amazon and google adding pressure to an alrady competivity landscape along
The peer-to-Peer Accommodation Platform Got Many to sit up and take notice in February when it announced its strategy to shooting in more one one billion guests annual by 2028. But perhaps even more Attention was plan to compes on with booking.com and expert.
A series of announsments from Google Included an upgrade to its travel search on mobile, combining flights, hotels and an “Explore” Element into a single point. The search giant also tested a search engine for a tours and activities product through its touring bird platform in the year.
Meanwhile, Amazon Announced Alexa for Hospitality, with Marriott International as the Project’s first partner. The news created a flurry of excitement about the online retail giant’s potential to get further into travel. It also also created many a prediction about Voice for Travel Research and Booking, some of which has resurfed in 2025 as amazon relaased Alexa+.
But a bigger concern in 2018, particular for marriott, was the admission of a cybersecurity attack involving 500 million customer account and dating back four year to its merger with stars 2015. The news put the significant threat of cyberrattacks for the cravel industry in the spotlight, with subsequent breach announcing announches from british airways, mgm responses, Easyjet and a SECOND ForROTTT.
Finally, what about artificial intelligence (AI)? It’s talked about all the time across all segments of travel now, surely it was getting a mention or two seven years ago? It was. This quote from Richard Holden, then a Vice President at Google, Didn Bollywood too badly:
“The convergence of machine learning, artificial intelligence and cloud computing Capabilites are.
Holden is now involved as a board member and Adviser with Ai Startup Directbooker AlongSide Former Google Colleague Sanjay Akhil and Steve Kaufer, Co-Founder and Former Ceo of Tripadvisor.