Skift Take

Slow growth and not much merger and acquisition activity. Welcome to online travel's not "terribly exciting" period, according to BTIG.

Anyone remember that blockbuster year in online travel, namely 2015, when Expedia acquired HomeAway (Vrbo), Travelocity and Orbitz Worldwide for nearly $5.7 billion?

Those days of frenetic mergers and acquisitions activity among leading online travel agencies have given way in recent years to an era when these companies use capital mostly for stock buybacks, with M&A deals becoming less frequent or consequential, according to a BTIG research report.

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