With the peak summer vacation season underway, China-based online travel agency (OTA) Trip.com overtook domestic OTAs NOL and Yeogi Eottae to rank No. 1 in users of Korea's travel platforms. As China-based platforms press ahead with aggressive marketing and discount promotions, the sense of urgency is growing among domestic corporations.
According to AI data company IGAworks Mobile Index on the 6th, Trip.com topped the comprehensive travel platform application (app) monthly active users (MAU) in July this year with 5,543,015, up 195.4% from a year earlier. After first overtaking NOL and Yeogi Eottae in June, it kept the lead in July as the summer vacation season kicked into full swing.
During the same period, growth among domestic OTAs was limited. NOL's MAU was 5,449,077, up 17.5% from a year earlier, while Yeogi Eottae rose just 2.5% to 4,406,712. Agoda followed with 2,229,785, up 5.8%, and Airbnb recorded 1,525,920, up 8.1%.
Trip.com's influence stood out even among global platforms. In 6th to 10th place were Klook (1,261,481), MyRealTrip (615,499), Hanatour (554,733), Triple (477,238), and NOL Interpark Tour (280,378). Booking.com and Expedia failed to make the top 10 with 267,009 (11th) and 27,508 (34th), respectively.
Some analysts say Trip.com's aggressive marketing spend is feeding into its growth. Based on Mobile Index data, Trip.com's ad share in the travel category expanded to 37% last year from 13% in the first half of 2024. The result is seen as a combination of the always-on "Trip Time" special fares since March, payment partnerships with Naver and Kakao Pay, and a summer brand campaign in June.
Trip.com also led in attracting new users. New app installs last month were highest for Trip.com at 514,778, up 17.6% from a year earlier, followed by NOL at 506,725, up 10.7%. Yeogi Eottae fell 7.3% to 388,739. Agoda totaled 237,097 (-0.7%), and Airbnb came in at 226,660 (12.2%).
However, domestic OTAs led in total time spent. NOL ranked first with 2,027,105 hours last month, up 29.0% from a year earlier, and Yeogi Eottae placed second with 1,726,560 hours (2.6%). Trip.com posted the largest increase, up 72.5% to 969,515 hours, but ranked fourth overall.
Trip.com is a global OTA under Trip.com Group, headquartered in Shanghai, China. Trip.com Group is China's largest online travel agency and owns Ctrip, Qunar, and Skyscanner. Trip.com offers flight, hotel, transportation, and activity booking services, is expanding its business in the global market, and has been increasing investment in the Korean market for several years.
However, these figures are based on domestic mobile app users and may differ from global market share or booking transaction value. An IGAworks official said, "Because the results are AI estimates based on 43 million audiences and app usability data, they may differ from the actual number of users tallied by corporations or from other surveys."