Let’s start with meta-search – the new rising star. According to PhoCusWright, 54% of Chinese, 36% of American and 35% of British travelers use meta-search engines to compare rates. Kayak, which was founded in 2004, took four years to process 1 billion queries, but processed 1.6 billion queries in 2013 alone. This number is expected to triple by 2019. Qunar, a Chinese meta-search channel, processed 3 billion queries for flight and hotel rates in 2013 (Source: http://www.tnooz.com/article/Planning-to-step-into-China-as-a-travel-metasearch-brand-be-ready-for-the-grind). No wonder that meta-search has attracted billions of dollars of investment in the last few years and is being hailed as the hottest thing in travel.
via OTA v/s Meta Search: The Battle Gets Bloodier, by Michael McCartan.