Published on : Monday, May 25, 2020
As the Covid-19 pandemic took a huge toll on Expedia it saw revenue fall 15 per cent, to US$2.2 billion, during the first quarter of financial 2020.
The room night bookings fall 14 per cent, though this partly offset by a five per cent increase in the value of bookings per room and bookings for air travel fell 56 per cent, which the company said was caused by a 41 per cent fall in the value of per ticket, and a 26 per cent decline in the number of tickets sold.
The company lost US$258 million over the period in total.
Expedia chief executive, Peter Kern said that like all travel companies, Expedia Group suffered a major reduction in business since the onset of Covid-19. But they were ahead of the game having implemented cost savings measures earlier this year, and with the added pressure from Covid-19 they accelerated and expanded their ambition on improving on long-term cost structure.”
Expedia stated that it would cut around 3,000 jobs in February.
Kern went on saying that they also raised significant additional capital to further strengthen their liquidity position as they navigate this disruption and position the business for recovery.
For the first quarter of 2020, total gross bookings decreased 39 per cent at Expedia.
In January, gross bookings growth was positive, as Covid-19 modestly impacted results and the virus was largely limited to the Asia Pacific region.
Gross bookings declined in February year over year as the virus spread, particularly into Europe by later in the month.
COVID-19 became a global pandemic in March including significantly impacting North America their largest region, cancellations exceeded new bookings, and total gross bookings were negative for the month.
Johanna Bonhill-Smith, tourism Analyst at GlobalData, observed there might be some green shoots looking ahead.