By 2018, the online travel agency industry had consolidated around two leaders: Expedia (which had acquired Travelocity, Lastminute, Hotels, Trivago, and Orbitz) and Priceline (which owned booking, Kayak, Rentalcars, and OpenTable). These two market leaders competed with numerous smaller online travel agents (e. g., TripAdvisor, Travelzoo, Skyscanner, Ctrip), with traditional travel agencies (e. g., Carlson Wagonlit, TUI, American Express—all of which had adopted a "bricks ‘n’ clicks" business model), and with direct online sales by airlines, hotel chains, and car rental companies. Amazon and Google were both potential entrants to the market. The online travel agents are dependent upon computerized airline reservation systems such as Sabre, Amadeus, and Travelport. Required:
Use Porter’s five forces framework to predict the likely profitability of the online travel agency industry over the next ten years.