Amazon Launches Flight Bookings in India and 11 Other Digital Trends This Week

Amazon Launches Flight Bookings in India in a Superapp Strategy: A shoe just dropped. Amazon is stepping into travel again. It may offer travel products in all sizes once it really gets going.

MakeMyTrip Aims to Weather Indian Air Market Turmoil Through Diversification: MakeMyTrip Group has impressively diversified enough that it forecasts only a minor hit to revenue during the coming year due to the collapse of Jet Airways, a major carrier in India. No wonder Ctrip decided last month to become the company’s largest shareholder.

TripAdvisor Responds to Critics by Changing How It Displays Hotel Reviews About Sexual Assault: TripAdvisor’s treatment of sexual assault allegations at hotels will not please people who would like to see these properties’ listings pulverized. But for those travelers scoping out hotels for issues of concern, these feature changes are a modest, incremental, and positive step.

GetYourGuide’s New $484 Million Infusion May Force Consolidation in Travel Experiences: SoftBank has upended the sales of tours and attractions by investing record-breaking sums in GetYourGuide and Klook. That’s boosted valuations to such lofty levels that it may leave only a few options: Merge or go public.

European Rail Booking Site Trainline Looks at Being Next Big Travel IPO: With consumers much more aware of the damaging environmental impact of air travel, other forms of transport are having a moment. It might be a good time for Trainline’s private equity owners to sell up.

Away Raises $100 Million for Expansion Beyond Selling Luggage: Away has so far managed the tricky transition to brand extensions beyond suitcases. The established travel goods industry will be watching with envy if the startup can continue to pull off its empire-building.

Thomas Cook Tries to Stem the Bleeding After $1.9 Billion Loss: Announcing such a big loss is not a good look for any company, but Thomas Cook management will be hoping they’ve got all of the bad news out at once and use some breathing space to shore things up.

TUI Plans to Take On Local Online Booking Players With $1 Billion Revenue Goal: TUI’s global plans are ambitious and bring it into direct competition with strong local online players, but as the CEO said, it only needs a relatively small number of customers to fulfill its needs.

Travel Managers: Fraud and Data Breaches on the Rise: Fraud is much more common than getting hit with a legit data breach, but travel managers are paying more attention to cybersecurity in the wake of high-profile incidents. Virtual cards can help with the small stuff too.

YouTrip Raises $25 Million for a Digital Wallet: Travel Startup Funding This Week. This week’s travel startups, including YouTrip, GetYourGuide, Away, and Anyplace, announced more than $611 million in funding.

The Big-Tech Backlash Is Coming for Digital Advertising in Travel: If — or when — a backlash comes, it would upend the business models of a wide swath of travel industry companies. It would also put many businesses specializing in surveillance of consumers at risk.

Brexit Is Still Casting a Shadow Over UK Travelers: In a tough UK market, online travel’s On the Beach is doing better than some others. Still, it remains to be seen how long it can outperform the rest, especially with the general gloom surrounding the United Kingdom.