In a two-part series Sally White looks back at the wheeling and dealing of a year that saw the travel industry hurtling into the digital age

What a bloody year it’s been! Margins savaged by savage competition, trading so tough that even Amazon backed off, consolidation taking out swathes of companies, metasearch revolutionising distribution and the new disruptors, themselves under fire, forcing battles for market share.

The amazing thing is that amid all this mayhem the brave investor has had chances to make a lot of money in travel shares. Among the all-powerful, major OTAs China-based Ctrip International’s shares are up over 140%, Expedia’s have risen by nearly 50%, and Sabre’s are up around the same. Even Priceline, the largest OTA by sales, has managed 13% despite its international business being hobbled by the strong dollar.

As the travel industry hurtles into the digital age, change is happening at a fevered pace. Spurring companies on is the growing size of the market. 2015 may have been a year where global economic growth disappointed, but the likely outcome is still a rise of 2.5%, according to investment bankers Schroders and everyone wanted to travel.

2015 may have been a year where global economic growth disappointed, but the likely outcome is still a rise of 2.5%, according to investment bankers Schroders and everyone wanted to travel

Seemingly undeterred by war, terrorism or natural disasters, tourism and business travel have been booming. The latest figures (October’s) for 2015 to date from the International Air Transport Association (IATA) showed overall international passenger demand up 6.9%.

According to the UN World Tourism Barometer, a robust 5% gain has been seen in Europe, making it the top region. Asia and the Pacific, the Americas and the Middle East all enjoyed 4% growth. Overall, currency was a factor - a weak Euro making that area attractive, and the strong dollar drove outbound US travel. Continued Chinese enthusiasm to see the world brought a double-digit growth in its international travel.

Consumers urge to spend on holidays helped European travel group TUI and the UK’s Thomas Cook produce good profits, sending their shares up. New Thomas Cook boss Peter Fankhauser said adverse reactions to air disasters or terrorism tended to be ‘short-term’.

Airlines expanded capacity and, enjoying as they are the savings from cheaper oil, made travel cheap. From Emirates to American, Delta and United and especially the likes of EasyJet and Ryanair, airlines can see only growth ahead. But analysts view the airline sector with caution.

Hotels rooms are multiplying. But, anyway, accommodation is plentiful with the advent of Airbnb (now offering 3,000 castles, 1,400 boats, and 400 lighthouses among its 2 million listings in 190 countries), and its clones.

Communication has been growing exponentially with 3.2 billion now on the internet and more than 7 billion smartphones in use (according to the International Telecommunications Union). Research and booking is increasingly done by mobile. Metasearch is king! The travel industry knows that we ain’t seen nothing yet, and communications group Ericsson is predicting a further 3 billion smartphone users using ten times as much data by 2020.

India is standing out as the growth economy, its numbers overtaking China’s. (The IMF expects 2015 GDP growth of 7.2%, 7.5% next, against 6.9% and 6.3% for China). IATA’s travel numbers are another window on India’s recovery; here demand is up 17.6% in October compared to the same time last year. Travel and leisure are booming, however, cut-throat competition, an unorganised hotel industry and limited internet penetration mean top portals MakeMyTrip, Cleartrip and Yatra are all loss-making.

Of course, this rosy global picture skims over the exceptions, which we take a closer look at later in the week.