As the Internet’s Homepage, Google Is the “Gatekeeper” of VacationsWhen you search for a flight or hotel, Google controls what appears on your screen. So online travel sites pay Google huge sums of money to rent this “prime real estate” and get clicks from travel planners. Earlier this year Google launched “Google Travel.” It allows you to filter through the best and the cheapest flights and hotels on Google. I typed “flights” into Google and here’s what popped up:Google Search RiskHedgeThe prime top-of-page real estate that commands 10X more attention now belongs to Google Flights. Google Travel Is Choking off the Flow of Customers to Other Travel WebsitesLast month outgoing Expedia CEO Mark Okerstrom said traffic from Google is “shrinking all the time.”Online review website TripAdvisor is also feeling the squeeze.

Source: Forbes December 06, 2019 15:22 UTC