Iberostar Ups Stake in Almundo for Online Travel Agency Push in Latin America
Skift Take
The conventional wisdom has been that the online travel market in Latin America will narrow down to a fight between Expedia-supported Despegar and global brands like Booking.com. But Almundo, thanks to backing from Iberostar, might put up a meaningful fight.
Despegar is well known as the largest seller of travel online in Argentina. But Almundo, another agency based in Buenos Aires, is an emerging rival.
Iberostar Group, the Spanish owner of 110 Iberostar Hotel and Resorts worldwide, owns 75 percent of Almundo.
In September, Iberostar invested an additional $12 million in Almundo, following on $28 million the group invested in the company during the first quarter.
Almundo is ranked second behind Despegar in the share of retail dollar sales of online travel in Argentina, according to market research provider Euromonitor International.
Other competitors include foreign brands like Hotels.com and Booking.com and regional brands such as Avantrip and Atrápalo.
In May 2018, Almundo launched online travel sales in Brazil.
Since 2016, the company has had an internet and call center presence in Mexico and Colombia as well.
Quiet Growth Story
In 2017, Almundo processed nearly $500 million in gross bookings across all its operations. That was up from about $350 million in 2016.
But Almundo will finish 2018 with annual gross bookings processed offline and online of close to $500 million again.
The company blames the apparent low growth in U.S. dollar-denominated gross bookings on the Argentine currency, which lost about half of its value against the
