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Expedia's (EXPE) New Partnership Aids Travelers in Australia

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Expedia Group (EXPE - Free Report) partnered with Block’s (SQ - Free Report) ‘Buy Now, Pay Later’ solution provider, Afterpay, to facilitate an enhanced booking experience for travelers in Australia.

Notably, Expedia will now be able to offer travelers the flexibility of payments with Afterpay’s 'Pay in 4' product. This will allow travelers to pay in four interest-free installments for six to eight weeks.

Further, Australian travelers can use Expedia Group's Strategic Partnerships and Affiliate technology to explore and book over three million properties globally.

We note that Expedia is expected to gain solid traction among Australian travelers on the back of its latest move.

Growth Prospects

Expedia’s recent move positions it well to capitalize on growth prospects in the Australian travel & tourism market.

Per a Statista report, the travel & tourism market in Australia is expected to register revenues of $14.21 billion in 2023 and reach $15.76 by 2027, exhibiting a CAGR of 2.6% between 2023 and 2027.

Further, the report predicts that user penetration in the same market will hit 70.9% in 2023 and reach 76.7% by 2027.

Moreover, the move will strengthen the company’s presence in the global travel and tourism, as well as online travel booking market space.

Per a Transparency Market Research report, the global travel and tourism market is expected to reach $972.5 billion by 2031, indicating a CAGR of 5.3% during the forecast period of 2023-2031.

According to an MMR report, the online travel booking market will reach $1.07 trillion by 2029, exhibiting a CAGR of 9.7% between 2023 and 2029.

Additionally, the underlined partnership is expected to aid growth in Expedia’s bookings, as well as revenues.

For second-quarter 2023, Expedia reported revenues of $3.36 billion, suggesting 6% year-over-year growth.

Gross bookings in second-quarter 2023 were $27.32 billion, implying year-over-year growth of 5%.

Stiff Competition

The latest move is expected to provide Expedia with a competitive edge over its industry peers like Booking Holdings (BKNG - Free Report) and Airbnb (ABNB - Free Report) , which are also making concerted efforts to maintain their position as industry leaders in the online travel booking space.

Booking Holdings’ leading travel search engine, KAYAK, launched its first corporate travel product for large companies, offering an enterprise solution that eliminates credit card and expense report requirements.

Further, a Booking Holdings subsidiary, Booking.com, partnered with BeCause, a startup software company, to provide real-time data on over 40 third-party sustainability certifications for accommodations, enabling more informed travel choices for travelers.

Meanwhile, Airbnb is gaining momentum among solo travelers with its Solo Traveler Safety feature.

This feature provides guests with expert tips, an easy way to share their Airbnb itinerary with anyone they choose, and prompts from Airbnb suggesting important questions to ask the Host about their listing and neighborhood.

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