Travel search innovators Skyscanner, one of the world’s most useful travel search tools, has announced a year to year revenue increase of 75 percent. Also in their news, the company’s growth trajectory has also paved the way for expansion in Asia via operations in Singapore. With emerging markets being underutilized, can companies like Skyscanner gain a foothold?
Expansion into the international market has accounted for most of Skyscanner’s growth, according to their press. Core markets along with a growing network of partners and affiliates, has propelled the company into the limelight of online travel tools. For those unfamiliar, Skyscanner started in 2001 and quickly became one of the most visited travel booking sites in Europe.
Founders Gareth Williams, Barry Smith and Bonamy Grimes created one of Europe’s most visited online travel booking sites, and with the recent acquisition of travel startup Zoombu (as below), the company should be well positioned for expansion. Ewan Gray, the new Regional Director of Skyscanner Singapore, has this to add:
“We’re very excited about this move. We’re seeing exceptionally strong growth in these markets which has largely been organic to date – in countries such as Singapore, China, Indonesia, Japan, India and Malaysia, we’re already seeing yearly increases in traffic of up to 90%.”
Skyscanner’s team in Singapore, in addition to Gray, will include Yi Bao, one of the core team members of aforementioned travel startup Zoombu. According to the original release via Business Wire, Yi Bao will head up the market development for China. Skyscanner is actively seeking other key personnel for the project.
For Asia and the Pacific rim, and several other emerging travel markets, Skyscanner and other online booking entities can gain a serious advantage over their larger contemporaries, if they hurry that is. Add in door to door flexibility (if they can make it work) and Skyscanner’s European success may well be cloned.
For more information on this news, please visit the Skyscanner website or contact their PR via the original release. If you are interested in door to door travel startup Zoombu, here is a link to their website as well. Argo Travel will be evaluating Zoombu later on this week.