OTAs market share to reach 60pc by 2025, say experts

Dhaka : Online Travel Agencies in Bangladesh will capture 60 per cent of market share by 2025, said Salman Bin Rashid Sayeem, CEO of Flight Expert in his presentation at a seminar on the country's OTAs, organised by The Bangladesh Monitor on March 9, at Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel.
"By 2025, the travel market in Bangladesh is expected to grow to USD 7 billion and OTAs will contribute to 1 per cent of the GDP," Salman added.
OTAs entered Bangladesh market in 2017 and by 2018 they had 11 per cent of the market share in terms of flight bookings. The number rose to 21 per cent in 2020, and even during the pandemic it registered healthy growth, due to the rise of e-commerce, which brought comfort and convenience to the customers. The future only holds exponential growth said the CEO of Flight Expert, a leading OTA of Bangladesh.  
OTAs are, Salman said, not only providing ticket booking services but also hotel booking, visa processing and other relevant services. This year the market share is expected to reach 30 per cent, he added.
In 2019, the hospitality industry of the country had a gross market value of USD 425 million with 16.4 million total number of rooms yearly booked. Average daily room bookings were 33.3 thousand while 13,000 of which was done online, allowing OTAs to control 30-35 per cent of the total inventory, said Kazi Wahidul Alam, Editor of The Bangladesh Monitor in his keynote address at the seminar.
And the international hospitality market for outbound Bangladeshi travellers stood at a market size of USD 152 million in 2019 with a 4.3 million total number of room bookings yearly, and 12 thousand of average room number bookings daily. 1.1 thousand of which was carried out online, making OTAs to cover 55 per cent of the online bookings.