Expedia cites lower demand for US travel for weaker-than-expected revenue

By DEE-ANN DURBIN Expedia Group stated Friday that reduced journey demand in the United States led to its weaker-than-expected revenue in the first quarter Related Articles The new rules of airline loyalty programs Should you handle debt or build an emergency fund first From AI avatars to virtual reality crime scenes courts are grappling with AI in the justice system Home Showcase A Wellesley home with room to roam Two dolls instead of Toys become the latest symbol of Trump s transaction war Expedia which owns the lodging reservation platforms Hotels com and VRBO as well as an eponymous online trip agency was the latest American company to description slowing business with both international visitors and domestic travelers Airbnb and Hilton noted the same trends last week in their quarterly earnings reports Largest part major U S airlines pulled their full-year financial guidance in April and commented they planned to reduce scheduled flights citing an ebb in business sector passengers booking leisure trips The U S Tour Association has commented that economic uncertainty and anxiety over President Donald Trump s tariffs may explain the pullback In April Americans confidence in the financial market slumped for a fifth straight month to the lowest level since the onset of the COVID- pandemic Abroad anger about the tariffs as well as concern about tourist detentions at the U S demarcation have made citizens of a few other countries less interested in traveling to the U S tourism industry experts say The U S authorities revealed last month that million visitors entered the U S from overseas this year as of the end of March fewer than during the first three months of The numbers did not include land crossings from Mexico or trip from Canada where citizens have expressed indignation over Trump s remarks about making their country the st state Both U S and Canadian regime material have shown steep declines in demarcation crossings from Canada Expedia Chief Financial Officer Scott Schenkel revealed the net value of the trip system company s bookings into the U S fell in the January-March period but bookings to the U S from Canada were down nearly In a conference call with investors Friday Expedia CEO Ariane Gorin announced U S demand was even softer in April than March We re still continuing to see pressure on progress into the U S but we ve also seen a few rebalancing Gorin noted Europeans are traveling less to the U S but more to Latin America Seattle-based Expedia mentioned its revenue rose to billion for the quarter That was lower than the billion Wall Street was expecting according to analysts polled by FactSet Expedia shares were down than in mid-day trading Friday Airbnb reported last week that foreign excursion to the U S makes up only to of its business But within that category it s seeing declining interest in the U S as a destination I think Canada is the the bulk obvious example where we see Canadians are traveling at a much lower rate to the U S but they re traveling more domestically they are traveling to Mexico they are going to Brazil they re going to France they re going to Japan Airbnb Chief Financial Officer Ellie Mertz disclosed in a conference call with investors Meanwhile Hilton lowered its full-year forecast for revenue per available room a key industry metric The company revealed in late April that it now expects enhancement of to for the year down from to Hilton President and CEO Christopher Nassetta reported stock analysts the company saw international movement to its U S hotels fall throughout the first quarter particularly from Canada and Mexico But Nassetta reported he remained optimistic for the second half of this year My own belief is you will see chosen of if not a lot of that uncertainty wane over the next couple of quarters and that will allow the underlying strength of the financial sector to shine through again he revealed