Despegar May Drop Its Acquisition of Mexican Travel Agency Best Day as Crisis Takes Toll
Photo Credit: A view of an obelisk in central Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina and the home of the online travel agency Despegar. Buenos Aires City Tourist Board
Skift Take
Despegar had offered to pay a premium for Mexico's Best Day in January, but today the two companies are strapped for cash due to the pandemic's destruction of travel bookings. This acquisition may be one of several deals across the sector imperiled by coronavirus.
Events can overtake optimism as shown by the sharp strategy shift since January or Despegar, the largest online travel agency in Latin America.
Despegar's chief financial officer Alberto Lopez Gaffney said on March 5, "We are very positive, very positive on the year that we're looking ahead." At the time, the company was modeling only a mild impact due to the coronavirus pandemic, on the thought that outbound travel from Latin America to Europe and Asia would drop. Executives also continued to tout an acquisition the company had announced in January for Best Day, one of the larges
