Online Travel Agent Global Market Report 2021: COVID-19 Growth and Change to 2030

Executive Summary

Major players in the online travel agent market are Booking.com, Expedia Inc., Ctrip, TripAdvisor, Trivago, eDreams Odigeo, Despegar, MakeMyTrip, Lastminute, and On the Beach.

The global online travel agent market is expected grow from $432.14 billion in 2020 to $561.36 billion in 2021 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 29.9%. The growth is mainly due to the companies resuming their operations and adapting to the new normal while recovering from the COVID-19 impact, which had earlier led to restrictive containment measures involving social distancing, remote working, and the closure of commercial activities that resulted in operational challenges. The market is expected to reach $833.52 billion in 2025 at a CAGR of 10%.

The online travel agent market consists of sales of travel services through online channels. Online travel agents or agencies are those individuals or companies that have websites that allow consumers to book various travel related services via the internet. Travel agents are engaged in sales of travel services such as flights, buses, vacation packages, hotels, and rental cars via online networks.

The online travel agent market covered in this report is segmented by service type into vacation packages, transportation, accommodation and by platform into mobile/tablets based, desktop based.

The regions covered in this report are Asia-Pacific, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, North America, South America, Middle East and Africa.

Rising possibilities of uncertain events such as COVID19 outbreak or natural calamities is projected to limit the growth of the tourism industry and online travel agent. According to the UNWTO estimates, the global international tourist arrivals in 2020 is predicted to fall by 20% to 30% compared to the previous year (2019), which translates into a loss of $30-50 billion in travel spending by the international visitors. Thus, the online travel agent market is to record a decline in 2020 owing to the impact of COVID19 across the globe. Moreover, according to Travel Daily Media news, the Typhoon Mangkhut jolts Hong Kong and China leaving tourism, aviation, and transportation industry at standstill. Therefore, possibilities of natural events are probably to restraint the growth of the tourism industry including the online travel agent market during the coming years.

In January 2020, Despegar, a Latin America based online travel company acquired Best Day Travel Group for USD 136 million. This acquisition allows Despegar to increase revenues by 25%, further strengthening its market position as the leading travel agency both in Mexico and Latin America. Best Day Travel Group, a Mexico based online travel agency.

The surge smartphone users along with growing internet penetration are anticipated to boost the online tourism industry and the business for travel agents during the period. Increasing penetration of internet and growth in the number of smartphone users is contributing to the consumer shift towards online channels for travel ticket and hotel bookings. According to a special report on Digital 2019 published by We Are Social’s in January 2019, the number of internet users in 2019 augmented to 4.39 billion than in January 2018, recording a growth of 9% or 366 million users across the globe. Furthermore, the number of smartphone users increased by 100 million or 2% to 5.11 billion in 2019 compared to the previous year. Consequently, the rise in the number of smartphone users coupled with increasing internet penetration is forecast to propel the revenues for the online travel agent market during the years to come ahead.

Growing initiatives by the government of various countries to promote tourism and built strong tourism infrastructure in order to boost the revenues generated from the tourism industry is a major trend propelling the growth of the online travel agent market during the period. For instance, according to the Press Information Bureau- Ministry of Tourism, Government of India’s report published in July 2019, ministry of tourism is providing financial assistance under National Mission on Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spiritual Heritage Augmentation Drive (PRASHAD) and Swadesh Darshan schemes to various state and union territories for the development of tourism-related infrastructure in the country. Therefore, the government initiatives and steps to promote tourism and develop tourism infrastructure are to act as a key trend in the online travel agent market over the period.

The countries covered in the market report are Australia, Brazil, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Japan, Russia, South Korea, UK, USA.

Companies Mentioned

A selection of companies mentioned in this report includes:

• Booking.com
• Expedia Inc.
• Ctrip
• Triadvisor
• Trivago
• eDreams Odigeo
• Despegar
• MakeMyTrip
• Lastminute
• On the Beach
• Alibaba Group Holding Limited
• Hostelworld Group
• Hotel Urbano Travel and Tourism SA
• Fareportal Inc.
• Trivago GmbH
• ThomasCook Group
• Priceline Group Inc.
• HRS
• Agoda
• Airbnb Inc.
• Hotel.de

Methodology