Germany is well positioned to remain Europe's largest travel market. Although revenue dipped slightly in 2018, travel gross bookings are expected to rebound this year.

Following several challenging years, recovery continues in the French travel market. The French travel market is projected to grow modestly in the medium term, climbing from €47.0 billion in 2019 to €49.9 billion by 2023.

Funding to travel startups increased 55% year-over-year to $5.7 billion in 2018 . The investors participating in the biggest funding rounds often overlap, as potentially highly lucrative deals are coveted and exclusive to a select few.

Across all regions, public online travel agency (OTA) gross bookings growth rates slowed in the first half of 2019 (1H19). Collective gross bookings of publicly reported online companies rose just 11% year over year (YoY) in 1H19, compared to 21% in 1H18.

As voice-enabled features become more pervasive, consumers continue to be more comfortable using voice to book travel, with 37% of U.S. consumers saying they would be comfortable doing so.

The total U.K. travel market is projected to grow 1.7% in 2019, bringing travel gross bookings to £50.8 billion. Bookings are expected to grow at a similar rate annually through 2023. However, given the U.K.'s significant reliance on global travel suppliers and intermediaries, negotiations with the EU represent a wild card that could further impact travel market performance.

In 2011, Marc Andreessen, co-author of the first widely used web browser (since turned venture capitalist) famously proclaimed that "software is eating the world," observing that global economies were shifting from being hardware-based to software-based. Fast forward just a few years, and this saying already requires an update: Platforms are eating the world. Platform companies have come to command, and perhaps even monopolize, the business landscape. The question for the travel industry is: Is travel also a winner-take-all game?

The transition to an immersive web will not happen overnight, but the progress so far makes it clear that it is coming. A clear roadmap exists, and the changes that need to take place are already underway. As supporting technologies continue to evolve, travel companies should continue experimenting with XR functionality and begin to devise a long-term strategy for incorporating immersive content into the travel planning process.

Phocuswright has tracked the digital travel startup landscape for over a decade. During this time, the digital travel ecosystem has undergone tremendous transformation. Travel startups continue to raise funding, challenge the status quo and lead the wave of disruption globally. This article previews the key findings from our latest travel research report, The State of Travel Startups 2019.

Phocuswright's latest travel research, Evolution of Air Distribution, is a comprehensive four-part series analyzing the complex dynamics of the air distribution sector. This includes History and Background, Industry Segment Perspectives, New Distribution and Retailing Models and Challenges and Future Insights.