The online travel agency market has exploded over the past few years. Booking Holdings Inc is one of the best known online travel agency. It operates popular websites and metasearch engines like booking.com, agoda.com, kayak.com, cheapflights.com, and priceline.com. Booking Holdings has a market-leading position thanks to its portfolio of brands. It is often considered by many as one of the top travel stocks to buy now.
How Has Travel Changed After The Pandemic?
The pandemic threw an existential challenge to many businesses in the travel and hospitality industry. Times have been incredibly difficult over the past few months for any business related to travel. However, some new trends are now beginning to gain traction. Alternative accommodation and hyper-local travel are two of them.
For Booking Holdings, alternative accommodation bookings comprised of a massive 40% of all new bookings for the second quarter of 2020. According to Glenn Fogel, CEO, Booking Holdings, ” This is an interesting phenomenon. So we all know, over time, more and more people have been looking at using what we call the alternative accommodation, a home, for example, rather than a hotel. And that trend has been happening more and more and more.”
Financial Performances Of The Best Travel Stocks To Buy Now
Booking Holdings has been on an uptrend since the March market crash. It has gained more than 48% over the last 7 months. The stock had fallen by more than 40% in March when the pandemic outbreak was in its initial stages. Booking is, however, still down 17% for the year 2020.
Another online travel company Expedia Group is up 107% since the March market crash. Expedia currently trades at a 1.38% dividend yield. Expedia is down 11% for the year 2020. Expedia had experienced a massive fall of more than 60% in March. Expedia and Booking Holdings are two of the best known online travel agency businesses.
