Despegar Surfs Rising Wave of Mobile Travel Bookings in Latin America
Photo Credit: Damián Scokin, CEO of Despegar, speaking at a travel industry event. In 2018, Despegar, Latin America's largest online travel agency, reported $531 million in revenue, which was flat year-over-year growth. Despegar / Yordi Muñoz Rivera
Skift Take
The Argentine economic crisis continues to drag on Despegar, but the online travel agency's continuous investment in mobile is setting it up for long-term growth across the continent.
A healthy performance in mobile bookings in Mexico and Colombia helped offset weakness in Argentina for Despegar, enabling Latin America's largest online travel agency to prevent a decline in year-over-year revenue growth and avoid layoffs.
In 2018, the Argentine company reported $531 million in revenue, which was flat year-over-year growth. However, if you factor out a fluctuating exchange rate, revenue was up 19 percent, according to financial reports filed on Thursday.
Despegar only generated net income of $19.2 million, a year-over-year decline of 59 percent. But some may credit the company with eking out any profit despite an unforeseen economic and political crisis in its home market of Argentina.
Argentina's crisis worsened in the last months of 2018, and its economy may not hit bo
