Skyscanner strengthens Australia foothold
Travel metasearch site Skyscanner has expansion firmly in its sights as the Edinburgh-based company confirmed it will seek to strengthen its Australian presence over the course of this year.
Its Australia and New Zealand operations, headed by Dave Boyte, are currently based in Singapore. But due to the growing importance of the region, Boyte will be heading Down Under more frequently.
“At the moment, we’re a fast growing flight search company but we hope to become one of the most popular online travel brands in the world,” Boyte told media at an event in Sydney yesterday.
He highlighted its “everywhere” search function as a unique feature that offers inspiration to flexible travellers.
Its presence in the hotel space is also expanding following its acquisition of hotel metasearch site Fogg last year which now powers all accommodation searches on Skyscanner.
Furthermore, an investment into the business by Sequoia, which also has an interest in Airbnb and Whatsapp, late last year is expected to help the company flourish.
“It gives us expertise and contacts that we didn’t have before,” Boyte said.
He reported an 83% increase in desktop traffic year on year from the Australia and New Zealand market with mobile also a huge channel for the company locally. The last year as seen 500,000 downloads of its app in Australia and New Zealand. It also has a mobile-enhanced website.
On a global scale, the company increased its global revenue by 96% in 2013 with its number of users from around the world more than doubling to reach 25 million unique visitors each month. To date, it has recorded more than 30m app downloads globally.
Meanwhile, Boyte shared insights gathered by the site which revealed some surprising emerging destinations for the local market. Bookings for the Republic of Macedonia grew 48%, Samoa 47%, Peru 45% and Iran 44%, with Peru, Bangladesh, Bolivia and Venezuela not far behind.
Email the Travel Weekly team at traveldesk@travelweekly.com.au
dave boyte flights hotels metasearch online skyscanner technologyLatest News
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