Google enters travel search market

Google has marked its entry into the travel search market by buying the aggregator ITA Software for $700m. The cash deal, which represents the six-largest in Google’s history, will position the technology giant against the likes of Expedia, Cheapflights, Kayak.com and Microsoft’s Bing Travel.

Although an unknown name to the public, ITA is an important player, providing behind-the-scenes data on flight times, availability and pricing to travel agencies and online reservation systems, which are then used as part of customer-facing sales tools.

Source: BTN

02.07.10