Hudson Crossing's No. 1 prediction for 2009 is that "a major OTA brand will be sold."
Download this and their other interesting expectations here.
"The space for Online Travel Agencies (OTAs) has become crowded and the current downturn in consumer spending on travel will force one major OTA into a change of ownership," Hudson Crossing wrote.
Travel segments booked by Galileo in the Americas fell by nearly 7 percent year-over-year during the March quarter, while "international" segments fell 1 percent with EMEA down 2 percent and Asia-Pacific flat. Parent Travelport's revenues were flat year over year, excluding the impact of its Worldspan acquisition.
According to Travelport president and CEO Jeff Clarke, "The weakness versus our plans has been in the online travel agency space. We have Orbitz and CheapTickets exclusivity, and their year-over-year performance is down, in part, because they had a hit-it-out-of-the-park performance in the first quarter of last year.
In terms of the corporate business, it's also a little slower than we had expected.
