Expediawillbecomeworld'sfirst$100bntravelagency

Expedia is on the way to becoming the world’s first USD 100 billion travel agency, a landmark it will achieve in the next few years, according to its chief executive.

Dara Khosrowshahi, told the 17th annual Expedia Partner Conference in Las Vegas this week that the decision to invest heavily in technology in 2007 was critical to the firm’s rapid growth.

The global online agent is marking 20 years since it was founded as a division of the technology giant Microsoft.

More than USD 71 billion is currently transacted annually across Expedia’s many travel brands including the recently integrated Orbitz and Cheaptickets.

Khosrowshahi said Expedia was seeing 30% year on year revenue growth. “We are certainly growing at very very high rates.

“Our goal is to become the first USD 100 billion travel agency in the world. That is a goal we will achieve within the next couple of years.”