European Online Travel Champion obilet.com Ready for Record Growth
4.8.2021 12:00:00 EEST | Business Wire | Press release
obilet.com, Turkey’s premier online travel ticketing platform, is set to enjoy rapid growth in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. Having just acquired its arch-rival Biletall, Obilet is forecast to sell more than 20 million tickets in 2021 – up from 8 million in 2020 – and close out the year with $300 million GMV.
This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210804005055/en/
Having just acquired its arch-rival Biletall, Obilet is forecast to sell more than 20 million tickets in 2021, and close out the year with $300 million GMV. (Photo: Business Wire)
Thanks to its unique offerings and innovative business model, the Istanbul-based travel-tech firm is now poised to expand its geographic reach amid an expected post-Covid global recovery.
SaaS-Powered Business Model
Already known throughout the region for its enormously popular ticket-booking app, Obilet’s primary distinction lies in its SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) powered business model. Obilet, invested in by EarlyBird and EBRD, provides bus operators with a best-in-class Ticket Management System (TMS) featuring 24/7 technical support. The company thereby creates a “lock-in effect” for its business operations on the supply side.
By distributing its portfolio of bus operators using its SaaS to other online ticketing platforms on a revenue-sharing basis, Obilet adds additional revenue streams on top of its lucrative B2C sales.
One of the world’s top-10 platforms for online bus and flight tickets, obilet.com saw remarkable growth in the pre-Covid-19 2016-2019 period, boasting a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 77%.
Biletall Buyout Cements Leading Position
Earlier last month (July 12), Obilet cemented its regional position by acquiring Biletall, its chief B2C and B2B competitor, which since the 2000s had played a pioneering role in the digitalization of Turkey’s travel industry. Although Obilet stole the top spot from Biletall in 2016 on the B2C side, Biletall nevertheless retained its leading position at B2B coverage.
The acquisition will give Obilet 100% destination coverage in one of the world’s largest bus markets, and the biggest in Europe. Turkey’s intra-state bus market currently generates some 200 million ticket sales per year, corresponding to roughly $3 billion annually.
Currently, more than 300 bus operators compete in this highly fragmented market, which remains largely unconsolidated despite the 2019 acquisition of the country’s largest domestic bus operator by Flix.
Plans for Expansion in Post-Covid Era
Obilet now is equipped with plug-and-play B2B and SaaS solutions to be offered to both operators and online/offline ticket resellers in neighboring countries, where there is huge revenue potential for the Turkish start-up.
Obilet’s vastly enhanced market share, coupled with rising travel demand in the post-Covid era, is expected to yield 40 million ticket sales in 2022 and a GMV of over $500 million. Company officials even suggest that, as Obilet gradually expands into fresh markets, annual GMV could reach as much as $1 billion within the next few years.
To view this piece of content from cts.businesswire.com, please give your consent at the top of this page.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210804005055/en/
Contact information
Ali Yılmaz
external.relations@obilet.com
+90 212 963 03 53
About Business Wire
For more than 50 years, Business Wire has been the global leader in press release distribution and regulatory disclosure.
Subscribe to releases from Business Wire
Subscribe to all the latest releases from Business Wire by registering your e-mail address below. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Latest releases from Business Wire
New Visa Data Reveals How the FIFA World Cup 2026™ Created Pop-Up Economies Across Canada, Mexico and the United States22.7.2026 14:00:00 EEST | Press release
After the final whistle blew on the FIFA World Cup 2026™, millions of fans returned home with unforgettable memories and a trail of economic activity that stretched across countries. Every tap to pay left a lasting impact, as spending throughout the tournament delivered a meaningful boost to merchants and local economies across host cities in Canada, Mexico and the United States. According to new data from Visa, the tournament drove significant growth in cross-border spending, international travel, and digital commerce across host cities. The findings show how a major global event creates “pop-up economies,” defined by Visa as temporary, highly concentrated periods of commercial activity that emerge around major cultural, entertainment and sporting events. The data reveals that fans traveled from around the world to follow their teams, generating a surge in Visa cardholder spending across restaurants, transportation, entertainment, retail, lodging, and other sectors. From iconic host c
Accertify and Liminal Release First Empirical Study Proving Fraud-Cyber Convergence Works - and Defining How to Do It Right22.7.2026 14:00:00 EEST | Press release
Accertify, a leading fraud decisioning provider whose Predictive Yes Platform enables merchants to say yes to more good customers, more revenue, and more growth, today released The Convergence Dividend: Quantifying What Fraud-Cyber Convergence Actually Delivers, a landmark proprietary study conducted in partnership with Liminal. The research - spanning 250 Director-level and above fraud, risk, and security leaders across Retail/eCommerce, Travel, Restaurants/QSR, Entertainment & Media, and Marketplaces - is the first large-scale empirical proof that fraud-cyber convergence produces better business outcomes, and the first to identify the specific behaviors that separate top-performing organizations from the rest. While fraud-cyber convergence is a nearly unanimous (94%) recognized priority by respondents, the research found that many organizations lack a clear framework for how to operationalize it effectively. To identify the practices associated with the strongest outcomes, Accertify
NIQ and Circle K Expand Global Analytics Collaboration Across More Than 12 Countries22.7.2026 13:00:00 EEST | Press release
NielsenIQ (NYSE: NIQ), a leading consumer intelligence company, and Circle K today announced a multi-year global agreement spanning more than 12 countries across North America and Europe. The collaboration brings together NIQ’s global scale, AI-powered analytics, and deep local market intelligence to help Circle K transform decision-making, accelerate growth, and deliver best-in-class customer experiences across its expanding global footprint. In an increasingly competitive and fast-changing retail landscape, the collaboration enables Circle K to stay ahead of evolving consumer demand, optimize performance, and unlock new growth opportunities across markets. Through NIQ’s AI-driven insights and decisioning platforms, Circle K’s Business Units and Global Center of Excellence will accelerate smarter merchandising, pricing, and operational decisions—tailored to local market dynamics while aligned to a global strategy. In Europe, the agreement enables Circle K teams to tailor analytics, as
Japan's Cross-Border E-Commerce "WAFUU.COM" Unveils Official Mascot Character "Mochi"22.7.2026 11:00:00 EEST | Press release
QRESTIA Inc. (Headquarters: Shibuya, Tokyo; President & CEO: Hidemasa Fukada) is pleased to announce that WAFUU.COM, its cross-border e-commerce site, has unveiled its new official mascot character, Mochi. Mochi will represent WAFUU.COM's warmth and friendliness across its website, social media, campaigns, package inserts, and other creative materials, connecting with fans everywhere. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260721435469/en/ Mochi, WAFUU.COM's new official mascot character, embodies "A tiny happiness from Japan." (Photo: WAFUU.COM) The debut video is now live on Mochi's official website: https://mochi.wafuu.com/ 1. About Mochi Mochi was born to embody the simple joy of choosing Japanese products. Its soft, rounded silhouette, gentle expression, and distinctive, endearing details are designed to feel welcoming to first-time visitors and longtime fans of Japanese culture alike — a character people will w
New NEURA Gym with RWTH Aachen: NEURA Robotics Expands its Global Training Network for Physical AI22.7.2026 10:10:00 EEST | Press release
NEURA Robotics ("NEURA"), the pioneer in cognitive robotics and creator of the Neuraverse, today announces a new partnership with RWTH Aachen University for the establishment of NEURA Gym RWTH Aachen. This continues the global rollout of NEURA Gyms, a worldwide network of purpose-built Physical AI training facilities that address the most significant barrier to intelligent robotics: the scarcity of real-world training data. The global rollout is backed by NEURA's Series C financing of up to $1.4 billion, the largest ever raised by a full-stack robotics company. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260721136838/en/ New NEURA Gym with RWTH Aachen: NEURA Robotics Expands its Global Training Network for Physical AI While ten NEURA Gyms are currently under development, five locations across Europe, the United States and China will be operational by end of 2026. The network is anchored by the two European flagship Univer
In our pressroom you can read all our latest releases, find our press contacts, images, documents and other relevant information about us.
Visit our pressroom