FareFinder Extra: Yahoo! drops FareChase

Travel Weekly is reporting that Yahoo! will scrap its travel-metasearch product FareChaser and instead defer its booking to Travelocity.

As stated in the article:

(I)n late February Yahoo signed a new agreement that has Travelocity continuing its role as the primary booking engine for Yahoo Travel. In the past, Travelocity sparred with Yahoo over the prominent role that Yahoo gave FareChase on Yahoo Travel.

FareChase, which Yahoo! acquired in 2004, was the forerunner of a host of metsearch products related to travel, namely TripAdvisor, Travelzoo and Kayak. Yahoo said the move will allow it to "focus our efforts on strategic products such as Yahoo Travel Guides and Yahoo Trip Planner."

Travel-related metasearch is beginning to take off, and to see Yahoo! drop its bid to cash in on this growing market is an interesting development, considering that more and more people are using the Internet to find the most affordable deals.