Middle East Diplomacy Could Help Fix Online Travel Blindspot
Dennis Schaal
January 20th, 2021 at 4:30 PM EST
Skift Take
Israeli Arab entrepreneurs have not benefitted from the travel tech startup boom in Israel. The controversial peace deal between Israel and some of its Arab neighbors could begin to get the investments flowing.
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Editor’s Note: Every Wednesday, Executive Editor and online travel rockstar Dennis Schaal will bring readers exclusive reporting and insight into the business of online travel and digital booking, and how this sector has an impact across the travel industry.
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Israel's travel tech startups have long been a pipeline for large online travel players ranging from Google to Yahoo and Booking.com, but Israeli Arabs and Palestinians on the West Bank and Gaza have largely been out of the investment and acquisition loop.
Consider some of the Israel-involved merger and acquisition deals over the years. Yahoo bought metasearcher FareChase for $20 million in 2004, Google acquired community-based navigation app Waze for $1.2 billion in 2013, and Booking Holdings purchased ad-tech firm Qlika for $15-$20 million in 2014. All of the targeted companies grew up in Israel; there have been many more such merger deals and venture investments along the way.
Business travel platform TripActions, founded by Israelis, has attracted $1.1 billion
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