NEWS
U.S. LODGING DEMAND STRENGTHENS EXPEDIA, OVERSEAS BUSINESS LIFTS TRIPADVISOR, PRICELINE
Expedia, TripAdvisor, Priceline boost third-quarter revenue
By Danny King
from a year earlier, to $59.4 million.
Expedia, its former travel-review site
division TripAdvisor and competitor
Priceline each reported higher third-quarter revenue, with Expedia benefiting from
strengthening U.S. lodging demand and the
latter two companies expanding their presence overseas.
Expedia, which accounts for about 40%
of online travel agency bookings from
U.S. customers, said its third-quarter revenue rose 17%, to $1.2 billion.
Revenue from hotel bookings rose 20%
from a
year earlier
as a 27%
increase
in room
nights more than offset a 6% decline in
revenue per night.
Still, the company’s third-quarter net
income fell 18% from a year earlier, to
$171.5 million, as higher administrative
costs more than offset the effect of more
hotel bookings. Specifically, selling and
marketing costs jumped 24% from a year
earlier, while technology and content expenses rose 31%.
EARNINGS
dia spun off last December, boosted revenue by 18%, to $212.7 million.
Revenue outside of the U.S. and U.K.
jumped 37%, to $76.7 million.
U.S. revenue rose 10%, to $105.6 million.
TripAdvisor’s net income increased 9%
Priceline net income up 27%
Priceline said its third-quarter revenue
rose 17% from a year earlier, to $1.71 billion.
The company’s total gross travel book-
ings increased 34%, excluding currency
changes.
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TripAdvisor grows overseas
Meanwhile, TripAdvisor, which Expe-
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for 2013 is mostly because travel growth
rate over the past few years has been so
strong, even better than it was during the
early 2000s.
“A 1.1% growth is faster than what we
saw from 2003 to 2007, right before the
recession,” he said. “I’d classify it as more
moderate growth. In general, it’s still a fairly healthy pace.” Huether also blamed the
predicted slowdown on the negative factors
affecting the economy.
Breaking down types of travel, Huether
said that leisure travel is expected to rise
2% in 2012, while business travel will grow
at a slower rate of about 1.3%.
In terms of spending, U.S. Travel expects
travel spending this year to grow by 4.7%,
to about $852 billion. That figure is also expected to grow at a slightly slower pace in
2013, or about 3.6%, to $882 billion.
Most of the spending slowdown will be
by U.S. residents, Huether said, which will
slow to about 3% growth. However, international spending is forecast to grow more
than 7%, and will continue to outgrow domestic spending over the next decade.
“International spending will become
more and more important to the travel industry going forward,” he said.
By 2014, international travel spending is
expected to account for 15.1% of total travel spending, up from the 14.6% forecasted
this year and more than 15% in 2013.
With respect to travel industry employment, Huether said the industry is expected
to add about 100,000 jobs in 2013, reaching
a total of about 7.6 million travel industry
workers.
U.S. TRAVEL
Continued from Page 6
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NOVEMBER 5, 2012
