South-East Asia online economy seen reaching US$50bil in 2017

A pedestrian uses a mobile phone at Raffles Place in the central business district area of Singapore, on Monday, Feb. 29, 2016. Singapore's Infocomm Development Authority plans to auction additional mobile spectrum this year as it seeks to lure a new entrant to compete with the city's three existing providers. Photographer: Nicky Loh/Bloomberg

South-East Asia’s Internet economy, spanning online travel to ride-hailing, will reach US$50bil (RM204.18bil) this year, putting it on a solid trajectory to grow fourfold by 2025, according to a joint research report by Google and Temasek Holdings Pte. 

As more consumers buy airline tickets and book hotels through smartphones, the region’s online travel market expanded from US$19.1bil (RM77.99bil) in 2015 to US$26.6bil (RM108.62bil) in 2017, according to a report the two companies released Tuesday. The research covered four key sectors of the internet economy: travel, media, ride-hailing and e-commerce.