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Despegar CEO: Brazil-driven expansion will triple business in 3 years.

Despegar, an online travel agency focusing on Latin America, plans to triple its size in the next three-year period. Its operations in Brazil will be the main driver, and it plans to invest $100m per year over that time.

Gonzalo Estebarena, the company's top executive, said that it will invest in artificial intelligence technology for a "future based very much on artificial intelligent".

Despegar, founded in Argentina in 1999 is one of Latin America’s largest online travel platforms. After its acquisition by Prosus, for approximately $1.7 billion, it was delisted from New York Stock Exchange.

Estebarena, in an interview at Despegar offices in Buenos Aires, said: "We want to triple the company in three or four years both in terms of transactions and operations."

He added that "the growth rate we propose going forward is more aggressive than growth seen in the past seven or eight year,"

By the end of this decade, the firm plans to more than triple the current gross bookings.

Estebarena was Despegar's Chief Technology Officer before assuming his new role in this month. He said that growth would be driven by integration with other platforms, particularly those owned by Prosus, which owns iFood, Brazil's largest food delivery app.

Estebarena reports that since the integration began in 2025, 14% (or more) of Decolar's revenue in Brazil has come from iFood clients who have earned points through a loyalty program.

It gives us a great deal of?confidence because iFood 'has 25 times more customers than Decolar. This is a great growth opportunity. He said, "The opportunity is immense."

He said that there has been a slowdown in sales of tickets and travel packages as the war in the Middle East pushed up oil costs and created uncertainty among customers.

"The ?main impact is the uncertainty ?it creates among people and, potentially--although not ?yet to the extent it could reach in the future--we are starting to see an impact on prices due to rising fuel costs," Estebarena said. (Reporting and writing by Eliana Razewski, Editing by Janane Vekatraman).

(source: Reuters)