the major global players

A good article about lastminute and the major worldwide players from The Times Online. Problem is Australia is such a small fish in the world market.

May 12, 2005

Times Online

The rise and rise of online travel
The takeover of Lastminute by US-based Travelocity is a logical move, says Online Travel Editor Steve Keenan, as Europe looks to catch up on the US lead in booking travel online




The agreed takeover of Lastminute by US-based Travelocity for £577 million, announced today, is a logical move.


Britain leads the way in booking travel online within Europe - but only about 10 per cent of all travel is booked online on this side of the Atlantic compared with 30 per cent in the US.

It has led to a spate of acquisitions as the Americans look to bring their knowledge and marketing to Europe. Interactive Corp, which owns Expedia, is the largest player in the online travel market while Cendant, the other major player, last year purchased ebookers, octopustravel.com and US travel website Orbitz.

Travelocity has always been the third US website in the market in Britain, and has suffered as airlines and tour operators looked to protect their own distribution by beefing up their websites. British Airways, Thomson and other players have all seen online bookings through their own websites grow significantly in the past year.

But the overall online travel business is growing rapidly, and Travelocity's offer for Lastminute is an interesting combination of US marketing and technology power allied to the UK/European knowledge acquired by Lastminute in the past seven years.

Travelocity's parent company owner Sabre today confirmed it would look to keep Lastminute as its lead brand in the UK and Europe with Brett Hoberman remaining as chief executive of the combined lastminute and Travelocity Europe operation.

Sabre says the addition of Lastminute would enable it to expand its range of offerings to beyond just basic air travel. As well as flights and holidays, Lastminute reach includes entertainment tickets and restaurant bookings. Having completed 14 acquisitions in the past three years, Lastminute also owns and operates online brands including holidayautos.com and travelprice.com.

Sam Gilliland, chairman of Sabre Holdings, said today’s deal would create a leading player in the European on-line travel sector. “The lastminute.com brand is highly regarded and well established and will complement the Travelocity business,” he told AFX News.

What does it mean for the traveller? Absolutely nothing - at this stage. The lastminute brand will continue as before and the choice from the aggregator sites such as Expedia and Lastminute will continue, alongside the ever more competitive pricing direct from the airlines, operators and hoteliers. And the pricing will get even more competitive once more US sites such as price comparison company Kelkoo launch in Europe. Everyone is getting in on the act and looking to build a bigger market share so they can start making serious money from having a larger share of the growing audience.

Said Henk Potts, of Barclays Stockbrokers: "Lastminute is now not the dynamic industry it once was. At first Lastminute stole a march but the big airlines and hotels have their own websites and it’s no longer a unique operating environment for them.”