America next for Skyscanner
Travel search site Skyscanner, which has APAC offices in Singapore and Beijing, produced record growth in 2012.
Edinburgh, UK-based Skyscanner has become the fastest growing international travel search site with an 84% increase in traffic in 2012 and monthly visits to the site in excess of 30 million per month.
The company generated travel bookings for airline partners in excess of SGD4.3 billion in 2012.
Skyscanner’s growth across APAC has risen by 400% and the region now accounts for close to 20% of total Skyscanner traffic.
Last year Skyscanner signed a deal with China’s number one search engine, Baidu.
Skyscanner plans to replicate its success in APAC across the Americas and is opening an office in Miami this year to underpin its growth plans for North and South America.
Skyscanner will be recruiting another 100 employees over the next 12 months, including doubling staff numbers in Singapore and Beijing, recruiting for its Americas hub in Miami and additional staff in its UK offices.
Skyscanner’s mobile apps have been downloaded over 12 million times and the iOS app rating, a key factor in travel search, is currently close to 5 stars. The site is now available in 40 countries and 30 languages.
Shane Corstorphine, Skyscanner’s chief financial officer, speaking to TravelMole from Singapore, said having localised hubs, employing great people speaking the local language across 40 different sites, is key to building relationships with users. "This gives our sites the right tone and authentic feel. Unless you have this, people don’t buy into it."
Corstorphine said that another plus for Skyscanner was that it was not GDS-reliant and could be more flexible in what is shown to users. "We have the right product and the right relationship with the airlines," he added.
Ian Jarrett
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