A review of the stock market performance of global travel booking websites in 2013

2013 was an extraordinary year for online travel companies. From a global perspective, performance generally showed a good positive growth trend, and many companies benefited greatly from expanding markets and adding product lines. Pincheng Travel takes stock of Orbitz on the New York Stock Exchange, Ctrip, TripAdvisor, Priceline, MakeMyTrip on NASDAQ, and eLong and its parent company Expedia, to give readers a comprehensive understanding of the performance of major listed companies in 2013.

NYSE Orbitz Worldwide
Orbitz Worldwide, which has been boasting all year, had mediocre performance. Its stock price at the end of the year increased by 149.3% compared with the beginning of the year, but the stock price was only $7.18. However, Orbitz's progress in 2013 was obvious to all. It shifted part of its profit model to hotels and achieved some success in customized solutions for its own brands. One of its brands, HotelClub, also entered the Australian market. However, its room sales growth was very bleak, and its sales target for 2014 was relatively low.
Orbitz Worldwide, New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: OWW):
——January 4, 2013, opening price: $2.88 ——December 31, 2013, closing price: $7.18, an increase of 149.3%

NASDAQ - Ctrip.com <br /> Ctrip.com, a Chinese online travel agency giant, achieved a perfect leap on NASDAQ in 2013, closing at $49.62 on December 31, an increase of 116% compared to the opening price at the beginning of the year. In the overseas OTA market, whenever the Chinese online travel market is mentioned, it is described as "fierce competition". In the "fiercely competitive" Chinese OTA market with Expedia's eLong and Baidu's Qunar, Ctrip has met or even exceeded analysts' expectations in the past eight quarters.
Ctrip, Nasdaq (Nasdaq: CTRP)
——January 4, 2013, opened at $22.89——December 31, 2013, closed at $49.62, an increase of 116%

Nasdaq - TripAdvisor
TripAdvisor is not strictly an online travel agency, because it has close relationships with many online travel companies, and most of TripAdvisor's best customers are online travel companies. From this perspective, TripAdvisor is included in this inventory. The hotel review and meta-search website giant, TripAdvisor's stock price rose 88.2% at the end of 2013, closing at $82.83. Of course, TripAdvisor also made mistakes in 2013, such as turning hidden ads into hotel meta-search similar to Kayak, but overall investors continue to be optimistic about their global growth potential.
TripAdvisor, NASDAQ (Nasdaq:TRIP)
——January 4, 2013, opened at $44.01——December 31, 2013, closed at $82.83, an increase of 116%

NASDAQ—Priceline
Priceline was the most popular online travel website in the United States in 2013, and its stock market continued its legend of substantial growth. In the third quarter, the number of room nights sold increased by 36%, surpassing Expedia for the first time in terms of total bookings. Industry insiders have been cooling down Priceline, pointing out that its growth rate will inevitably decline at a certain point due to its scale. Despite this, Priceline's stock price increased by 78.1% throughout the year, closing at $1,162.78 at the end of the year.
Priceline, NASDAQ (Nasdaq: PCLN)
- Opened at $652.59 on January 4, 2013 - Closed at $1,162.40 on December 31, 2013, with a year-round increase of 78.1%

NASDAQ — MakeMyTrip
Despite fierce competition from smaller Cleartrip in India and externally dealing with an unstable domestic currency and airline fares, MakeMyTrip has maintained revenue growth of 15%-20% heading into 2014. Like other online booking sites, MakeMyTrip has worked hard to increase hotel and package bookings, but the business remains relatively small.
MakeMyTrip, NASDAQ (Nasdaq:MMYT)
- Opened at $13.18 on January 4, 2013 - Closed at $19.26 on December 31, 2013, an increase of 46.1%

NASDAQ - eLong <br /> In the third quarter of 2013, eLong's total revenue grew by an astonishing 100% as its parent company Expedia invested in China. However, China's online travel market is highly competitive, full of coupons, vouchers and even cashback activities, and eLong is now gradually expanding its business to mobile platforms.
eLong, NASDAQ (Nasdaq: LONG)
- Opened at $15.20 on January 4, 2013 - Closed at $20.48 on December 31, 2013, an increase of 34.7%

Nasdaq - Expedia
Among the many listed online travel agencies, Expedia's stock price rose the slowest, with a tepid increase of 10.37% for the whole year. In 2013, Expedia had some shortcomings, such as the sluggish performance of Hotwire, their inaction in obtaining information when competitors dominated offline advertising, and their lack of response to marketing challenges when TripAdvisor transformed into hotel metasearch. Despite this, some observers are still optimistic about Expedia's growth in 2014.
Expedia, NASDAQ (Nasdaq: EXPE)
——Opened at $63.11 on January 4, 2013 ——Closed at $69.66 on December 31, 2013, an increase of 10.36%

Overall review of Pincheng
Priceline's dazzling data in 2013 made it the undisputed star among OTAs of the year: its stock price hit a record high of over $1,000 in September, and it soared 78.1% throughout the year. It continued to strengthen on the last trading day and closed at $1,162.40. Its competitor, Orbitz Worldwide, had mediocre performance and closed at $7.18 at the end of the year, which was roughly the change in Priceline's stock price on a certain day. But overall, the online travel market performed well in the stock market, which injected great confidence into investors in 2014.

Translated by: Ma Zheng

From: //www.pinchain.com/article/2030