Leading global travel search provider Skyscanner is acquiring Chinese metasearch company Youbibi.
Financial details of the deal have not been announced. The acquisition will allow Chinese travelers to more easily search online for all their travel needs, by combining Youbibi’s Chinese mainland expertise with Skyscanner’s comprehensive coverage of international flights.
Since Skyscanner established its China office in 2012, monthly visitors to the site have risen by more than tenfold over the past three years. The APAC region accounts for a rapidly growing proportion of Skyscanner’s business, with 20 percent of all visitors to the site from the region.
Gareth Williams, Skyscanner’s co-founder and chief executive officer, said the acquisition takes the company from being a strong international travel specialist in China to a truly global travel service provider for all Chinese nationals. Williams said Skyscanner already has exciting plans for how to develop products that make travel planning even easier for travelers in China.
Youbibi co-founder and chief executive officer, Steven Pang, said the company built its website and app to be as easy as possible for Chinese travelers. Youbibi believes it can create a really exciting travel search tool for all Chinese tourists, he said. Founded in 2010, Youbibi specializes in comparing flights, hotels and package holidays in China.