Expedia's CEO Welcomes Amazon's Rumored Entry Into The Online Travel Business

If there is one company that wants to enter a new business all too often, it’s Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN. As the debacle of some of its ventures have shown, regardless of whether it succeeds or fails, Amazon never shies away from taking the plunge into the unknown territory.

The latest rumor doing the rounds on Street is that the giant e-retailer has now set its eyes on the online travel and booking business.  The online booking services space has heated up over the years as more and more people are booking their tickets and making their reservations online. However, the question is, whether Amazon can pose a serious threat to the established players in this market?

Dara Khosrowshahi, President and CEO of Expedia Inc EXPE doesn’t think so. He was recently on CNBC to share his thoughts on the rumors about Amazon’s entry into the online travel business.

“It’s a big business, it’s a trillion dollar global industry, it’s a really attractive industry, it’s always been competitive,” Khosrowshahi said. “So, we welcome Amazon to the party, so to speak, it’s a business that has been growing really really well. So, it’s no wonder that other companies are looking at.”

When asked about whether Expedia can put a barrier on Amazon’s entry, Khosrowshahi said, “I don’t think that there is any absolute lock-up factor because this is a too big a business, but we do have over 300,000 hotels now in our system on a global basis. It’s going to take a lot of catching up to do for any player out there to get to the size and scale that we have on a global basis. So, we are really confident of our prospects going forward.”

Shares of Expedia were recently trading at $85.49, down 0.25%.