Could Amazon become a major player in Travel?
Amazon, which boasted record-breaking sales during this week's Prime Day event, made headlines for its travel-related offerings, something of a novelty for the company.
While the impact travel deals made on Prime Day results is unclear, the handful of offerings from big name brands including Carnival Cruise Line, Tripadvisor’s Viator and Southwest Airlines begs a slew of questions.
What does the future of travel look like in relation to Amazon? Will the platform become a major player in the industry? And if so, in what form?
“There's so much speculation about what Amazon could do, because it knows so much about our buying habits and because it has great recommendation technology,” said Lorraine Sileo, senior analyst and founder of Phocuswright Research.
These ideas aren't new. There has been speculation for years about how and when Amazon might enter the travel sphere - and if it would be successful doing so.
But this week's highly-publicized Prime Day deals shed new light on the matter - and industry opinions on how things could progress from here vary.
