Can a search giant shake up the travel industry?

May 10, 2010 |

Getting the internet's most important search company into the travel business is probably a good thing for travellers. Google excels at making search simple and intuitive, and one hopes that it would bring that same spirit to travel listings, writes The Economist.

Still, Google has some catching up to do. Microsoft bought a company called Farecast two years ago and used its software to create Bing Travel, a subdivision of its search engine, Bing. Ever wondered whether the fare you're looking at is going to come down in the next few weeks? Bing Travel can try to predict that for you.

Most of the cooler things that Google could do with iTA are along the same lines as what Microsoft has done with Farecast and Bing Travel. Even simply integrating travel information with pre-existing products like Google Maps, Google Calendar, and so on could make a big difference for travellers. I'd love to be able to see the cheapest flights to a city when I search for it in Google.

Get the full story at The Economist

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