Online Travel Agent Global Market Opportunities and Strategies to 2033

This report describes and explains the online travel agent market and covers 2018-2023, termed the historic period, and 2023-2028, 2033F termed the forecast period. The report evaluates the market across each region and for the major economies within each region.

The global online travel agent market reached a value of nearly $861.5 billion in 2023, having grown at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4.99% since 2018. The market is expected to grow from $861.5 billion in 2023 to $1.11 trillion in 2028 at a rate of 5.36%. The market is then expected to grow at a CAGR of 5.81% from 2028 and reach $1.48 trillion in 2033.

Growth in the historic period resulted from increasing disposable income, rapid urbanization, increase in world population and increasing internet penetration. Factors that negatively affected growth in the historic period were volatility in skilled workforce shortages and high taxes on air travel.

Going forward, strong economic growth, rise in e-commerce, surge in smartphone users and increase in solo travelers will drive the market growth. Factor that could hinder the growth of the online travel agent market in the future include impact of regulatory constraints.

The online travel agent market is segmented by service type into vacation packages, transportation, accommodation and other service types. The transportation market was the largest segment of the online travel agent market segmented by service type, accounting for 43.3% or $372.68 billion of the total in 2023. Going forward, the accommodation segment is expected to be the fastest growing segment in the online travel agent market segmented by service type, at a CAGR of 6.58% during 2023-2028.

The online travel agent market is segmented by platform into mobile/tablets-based and desktop/laptop based. The desktop/laptop-based market was the largest segment of the online travel agent market segmented by platform, accounting for 69.8% or $601.12 billion of the total in 2023. Going forward, the mobile/tablets-based segment is expected to be the fastest growing segment in the online travel agent market segmented by platform, at a CAGR of 6.38% during 2023-2028.

The online travel agent market is segmented by mode of booking into hotel bookings, tickets and other categories. The hotel bookings market was the largest segment of the online travel agent market segmented by mode of booking, accounting for 50% or $430.59 billion of the total in 2023. Going forward, the other categories segment is expected to be the fastest growing segment in the online travel agent market segmented by mode of booking, at a CAGR of 6.72% during 2023-2028.

Asia Pacific was the largest region in the online travel agent market, accounting for 33.9% or $292.3 billion of the total in 2023. It was followed by Western Europe, North America and then the other regions. Going forward, the fastest-growing regions in the online travel agent market will be Asia Pacific and North America where growth will be at CAGRs of 6.9% and 5.6% respectively. These will be followed by Africa and Eastern Europe where the markets are expected to grow at CAGRs of 4.9% and 4.6% respectively.

The global online travel agent market is highly fragmented, with large number of players operating in the market. The top ten competitors in the market made up to 5.83% of the total market in 2022. The market fragmented can be attributed to the presence of large number of small players in different geographies. Booking Holdings was the largest competitor with a 2.15% share of the market, followed by Expedia Group with 1.47%, Airbnb with 1.05%, Trip.com Group Limited with 0.37%, Qunar.com with 0.26%, TripAdvisor with 0.19%, LVMAMA with 0.12%, eDreams Odigeo with 0.08%, MakeMyTrip Limited with 0.07% and Despegar with 0.07%.

The top opportunities in the online travel agent market segmented by service type will arise in the accommodation segment, which will gain $105 billion of global annual sales by 2028. The top opportunities in the online travel agent market segmented by platform will arise in the desktop/laptop based segment, which will gain $162.4 billion of global annual sales by 2028. The top opportunities in the online travel agent market segmented by mode of booking will arise in the hotel bookings segment, which will gain $128.4 billion of global annual sales by 2028. The online travel agent market size will gain the most in the USA at $64.7 billion.

Market-trend-based strategies for the online travel agent market include focusing on the development of innovative travel digital tools to stay competitive, meet customer expectations, focusing on increasing their investments to innovate, expand their offerings, improve the customer experience and stay ahead in a dynamic and competitive market, focusing on innovative technological solutions to improve the user experience, gain a competitive advantage, focusing on the development of innovative AI solutions, such as artificial intelligence (AI) travel assistants, focusing on strategic partnerships and collaborations to enhance their offerings.

Player-adopted strategies in the online travel agent market include focus on strengthening its business operations through new product developments, focus on strategic partnerships to develop their business expertise.

To take advantage of the opportunities, the analyst recommends the online travel agent companies to focus on developing innovative travel digital tools, focus on strategic investments for innovation and expansion, focus on technological innovation for enhanced user experience, focus on AI-powered travel assistants for personalized experiences, focus on transportation and accommodation segments for growth, expand in emerging markets, focus on strategic partnerships for enhanced customer experience, provide competitively priced offerings, continue to use B2B promotions, focus on digital engagement for enhanced market visibility, focus on mobile/tablets based segment and focus on catering to solo travelers.