A new report by yStats.com, “Top 5 Online Travel Markets 2016,” reveals that the growth rate of online travel sales in the top five markets is projected to moderate from 2016 on. Among other findings of the Germany-based secondary market research firm is the growing importance of the current market trends: mobile travel bookings and use of peer-to-peer platforms.
The global online travel market is projected to retain double-digit growth rates for the next few years, which are afterwards expected to decline to less than 10%, according to the forecast cited in the yStats.com report. Some further predictions included in the report are that Asia-Pacific is to overtake North America as the region with the largest online travel sales; a larger share of online travel bookings is expected to be transacted via mobile platforms; and the revenues of peer-to-peer accommodation sharing and transport sharing platforms will expand more rapidly than those of traditional online travel agencies.
The yStats.com report also reveals important trends and forecasts for the top 5 countries with the largest online travel sales. The USA is projected to remain the lead in the top 5 online travel markets for the next several years, though China is likely to decrease the gap between itself and the U.S. considerably. The UK continues to outperform Germany in terms of online travel sales due to a high penetration of the online channel despite the smaller total travel market, and Japan is seeing an increasing share of travel bookings taking place through the mobile channels. Across all top 5 markets, a common trend is a continuous, but slowing growth of online travel sales, as the share of the online channel in the total travel market increases.
