The Seattle-based online travel giant Expedia Group, Announced improved performance in the second quarter, But cautioned that the return of the pandemic has complicated the recovery of the global tourism industry and its business.
- The company’s net loss in the second quarter was US$301 million, an improvement from the loss of US$753 million a year ago.Adjusted earnings per share is 1.13 US dollars, more than Analysts expected 60 cents per share.
- Revenues this quarter more than tripled from last year to US$2.1 billion, reflecting signs of continued recovery in the global tourism industry. In comparison, revenue for the second quarter of 2019 before the pandemic was $2.9 billion.
- Total bookings increased from US$2.7 billion a year ago to US$20.8 billion, but still far below the US$28.3 billion bookings made two years ago.
In addition to the flagship Expedia.com, Expedia Group also includes travel brands such as vrbo, Orbitz, Hotwire, Trivago, Hotels.com and Egencia.
Expedia Group CEO Peter Kern said in a conference call with investors and analysts that despite the progress made in the second quarter, the spread of COVID-19 Delta variants and lower vaccination rates in some parts of the world are increasing. Bring new challenges. It can be seen from his comments:
- Expedia’s overall market and business in North America and the United States improved in the second quarter, especially in domestic travel and vacation rentals.
- Kern said the improvement in international travel, corporate travel, and big city travel was “relatively relatively modest.”
- However, after the end of the quarter, travel has cooled in July. “There are many unknowns, including in the United States, we are beginning to see some of them penetrate through greater fluctuations in cancellation rates and numbers,” Kern said.
Kern expressed optimism that global travel will eventually recover from the pandemic.
“We believe that as vaccines continue to be promoted globally, this will bring greater safety, greater comfort and greater willingness to travel,” he said. “But for some time, the road may still be bumpy, because we will see all the variants happening and the government’s various reactions to them.”
Expedia Group announced on Thursday Marketing promotion of its application Raise up to US$12 million for UNICEF’s vaccination efforts in low-income countries.