Europe's Meta Game: Update on Evolution of Travel Search

Summary

The European metasearch landscape is moving toward greater consolidation as online travel agencies (OTAs) acquire local brands, and two - Kayak and Trivago - pull away from the competition. The consolidation of the European metasearch market coincides with OTAs' growing interest in the metasearch business. Priceline's acquisition of Kayak, announced in November 2012, was a catalyst for a wave of mergers involving OTAs and metasearch companies. Kayak was the market leader in revenues and is on a fast growth trajectory, giving Priceline a solid position in the metasearch space. Since 2012, most of the pan-European OTAs have purchased competitive and well-positioned metasearch brands. Expedia completed its buyout of Trivago a few months before eDreams Odigeo acquired Liligo from the French rail company SNCF in September 2013. By the end of that year, the Bravofly Rumbo Group purchased Jetcost.