Online travel agencies focused overseas

By Kyle Peterson

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Online travel agencies, eager to expand their reach in an increasingly electronic world, have set their sights on international markets where travelers are not yet accustomed to booking trips online.

Chief executives at the three largest publicly traded online travel agencies (OTAs) -- Expedia Inc, Priceline.com Inc and Orbitz Worldwide -- said at the Reuters Travel and Leisure Summit in Los Angeles this week that they aim to capture the largest possible chunk of those budding markets.

"The Asia-Pacific market is the biggest market that we're looking at," said Expedia CEO Dara Khosrowshahi. China and India are the most tempting geographic targets, he said.

Expedia's Asia-Pacific division oversees the company's expansion in Asia. Expedia, the largest OTA, has a majority stake in eLong, which provides online travel services in China.

Expedia saw 34 percent of its fourth-quarter bookings from international points of sale.

With growth in online travel bookings slowing in the United States, OTAs must look overseas for growth opportunities.

The task is complicated somewhat by slower Internet penetration in Europe and Asia and by the relatively small number of large hotel chains on those continents.

Despite these hurdles, U.S.-based OTAs have established some degree of traction internationally largely through acquisitions.  Continued...