eMarketer: Global online travel sales exceeded $533 billion in 2015

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According to eMarketer's forecast, global online travel sales will exceed US$533 billion in 2015, an annual growth rate of 13.3%. And sales will maintain steady growth until 2019, mainly driven by online travel sales in Asia Pacific, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa. By 2019, global online travel sales will reach US$762 billion.

In 2015, online travel sales in the Asia-Pacific region reached $139.12 billion, an annual growth rate of 19.8%. eMarketer predicts that sales will increase by another $75 billion by 2018, when the Asia-Pacific region will surpass North America to become the world's largest online travel market. China's rapid economic development has created the largest middle-class consumer group, which will spend more on leisure travel, which will become the biggest driving force for the region's online tourism industry. In addition, India and Indonesia will also make great contributions to the Asia-Pacific region's online tourism industry, although they pale in comparison with China.

Latin America had the fastest growth in online travel sales in 2015, reaching $29.97 billion, an annual increase of 20.3%. However, the overall share is only 5.6% of the global online travel market, which is better than the Middle East and Africa (4.5%) and Central and Eastern Europe (1.8%).

Central and Eastern Europe online travel sales grew 9.7% in 2015 to $9.71 billion. The region had lower sales overall, just ahead of India ($9.42 billion). Russia had the largest share, but has been hit by economic and political instability. Russia's travel ban on Ukraine, Egypt and Turkey will also have a negative impact.

North America is one of the most developed markets in the world and remains the world's largest online travel sales market. In 2015, the growth rate remained at double digits, reaching $179 billion, accounting for one-third of the global online travel industry. However, the growth rate of North American online travel is slowing down because the market is close to saturation. eMarketer expects that the growth rate of North American online travel sales will drop to single digits in 2016.

Like North America, Western Europe’s online travel market is already well established. By the end of 2015, Western Europe’s online travel sales will reach $151.73 billion, an annual growth rate of 8.0%. The market will maintain a slow growth rate in the next few years, and online travel sales will reach $185.52 billion in 2019.

199IT.com Originally compiled from: eMarketer. Please do not reprint without authorization