Ctrip Needed and Wanted Metasearch, So It Got Skyscanner
Skift Take
Whether Ctrip overpaid or underpaid is irrelevant. They needed a meta site to position itself as a global player in online travel. The implications for the future of search and travel are huge.
The timing of Ctrip’s acquisition of Skyscanner could not have come at a more appropriate time for Skift’s research team.
In our most recent report published just this Tuesday, we analyzed every aspect of the current metasearch ecosystem. The business model, the technology, the players. Get your copy: The 2017 Outlook on Metasearch in Travel.
Here's our earliest reaction to the acquisition:
Ctrip’s acquisition of Skyscanner should not have come as a surprise when we consider the Chinese giant’s rising global ambitions in online travel. The other two big kids on the block, Priceline and Expedia, already have their meta darlings Kayak and Trivago. But Ctrip is already the powerhouse in China. It’s buyout of Expedia’s share in eLong back in May of 2015 and recent other acquisitions and partnerships with other meta players including Qunar assured its dominance
