Video: Travel Investors on Why Booking Sites Still Have Plenty of Room for Growth
Skift Take
Is this only the beginning of the beginning of online travel? With a recent downbeat set of results from online travel agencies, it's a question that's hotly debated these days.
Mark Mahaney, managing director and analyst at RBC Capital Markets Research Division, asked the travel industry to keep one big number in mind – $150 billion – which was the combined market cap of Priceline, Expedia, Ctrip and TripAdvisor. It has subsequently dropped to $135 million.
"Each of these companies still account for less than 10 percent of global room nights sold so it's not like there's any 800-pound gorilla in the space yet," Mahaney said at Skift Global Forum in New York City in September. "Versus the opportunity, they're still relatively small."
These companies' combined market caps have subsequently dropped to $135 million, however, in a rough period for the online travel
