travel, hotel and booking Information

35-Percent Increase in Number of Consumers Visiting Travel Sites, comScore Study Finds

Continued Growth in Online Travel Sales Revealed; Consumers Slowly Migrating to Supplier Sites to Book Travel

RESTON, Va., June 6 -- comScore Networks, the leader in the measurement and analysis of consumer behavior and attitudes, today released an analysis of the online travel market in the U.S. comScore found that nearly 150 million consumers visited a travel Web site in 2005, a 35-percent increase over the previous year. Annual online travel revenues exceeded $60 billion in 2005, representing a 20-percent increase versus 2004, with all travel segments posting gains.
"The Web is extraordinarily well-suited to helping consumers make travel plans and increases in home broadband penetration should continue to fuel growth in the online travel sector," said Sara Stevens, director of comScore Travel Solutions.

Hotel Booking Consumers Slowly Shifting Travel Dollars from Online Agencies to Supplier Sites

While there are some below par travel agents out there, sources such as Tripology are great outlets to go to find reliable specialized travel agents that will match your needs. 10. Travel Agents Can Only Book My Flight and Hotel Travel agents can arrange car service, personalized tours and activities, in addition to all the basic travel services they provide. They are also excellent sources of information concerning good restaurants, good sites to see, and tips on what to pack.

Travel Agency As the online travel industry has grown and matured, consumers have been slowly migrating from online agencies to branded airline, hotel or car rental supplier sites. However, both online agency and supplier sites are growing, with agencies posting a 19-percent gain versus 2004 and suppliers recording 21 percent growth. comScore data also show that the branded supplier sites captured approximately 57 percent of online travel dollars in 2005, up from 55 percent in 2004.

Tim Wright, Fexco AllTravels head of business development and distribution, Once again, travel agents, consolidators and online travel services are strengthening their armoury in the battle to remain competitive. With PlacesToStay, they can offer more hotel content and therefore choice for their trade and consumer customers, which should help to increase bookings. well give you full booking access to a growing range of worldwide hotels offering competitive rates, and well collect and pay attractive commission. Its all about adding value.

Cheap Hotel Over the last three years, online agencies have experienced greater competition from supplier sites in the airline and hotel segments and, to a lesser extent, in car rentals. Supplier sites, which accounted for 53 percent of airline ticket sales in 2003, have grown in popularity in recent years to capture 58 percent of airline ticket sales in 2005. A similar pattern has emerged in the hotel segment, where supplier sites have grown from a 52 percent share in 2003 to 59 percent in 2005, with the growth from 2004 to 2005 being particularly strong.

Online travel spending in the U.S. during the 2005 holiday season (November 1 through December 31, 2005) totaled $8.6 billion, percent increase on last year. Last year U.S. consumers spent $7.4 billion during this period, according to comScore Networks. For the full year consumers spent $60.9 billion, percent increase on the previous year. Total Internet spending for the full year 2005, including travel, reached $143.2 billion, up 22 percent over the $117.2 billion spent online in 2004.

Flight Booking More Consumers Start Shopping with Expedia, Orbitz or Travelocity

8mong many firsts for the group market, the new technology platform enables consumers to do something that other sites haven k allowed to book travel and accommodations for more than five rooms in a single online session. Featuring more than 56, 000 hotels, including 7, time group rates, Groople is primed to become the industry largest automated solution for unmanaged group leisure travel, a market estimated at $18 billion to $24 billion. Under its hosted inventory and commission models, Groople generates group bookings niche by niche for hotels and plans to add air, car, cruise, bus and rail later this year.

Travel Agent Conducted as part of the Travel Industry Overview, a comScore survey revealed that, on average, travel shoppers visit approximately three sites when planning leisure travel. The dominant reason for doing so, not surprisingly, is to search for the lowest price. Few respondents cited rewards programs or flexible dates and times as reasons for "shopping around."

- It's official; the Internet is the most popular place for consumers to book travel! This is according to a recent PhoCusWright study whose analysis shows 2007 will be the first time transactions on the Internet will account for more than half (54 percent) of all U.S. travel bookings. According to a separate PhoCusWright study, one of the key competitive areas for the online travel industry is in the groups and meetings market, which they say will represent $175 billion by 2008. based, Groople.com.

Hotel Chicago When people begin the process of researching travel services online, 46 percent indicated that the first site they visited was either Expedia, Travelocity or Orbitz -- nearly double the proportion of people who reported starting their research at a branded airline, hotel or car rental site (24 percent). The top reason stated for beginning at Expedia, Orbitz or Travelocity was efficiency in seeking the lowest price (22 percent), with an additional 17 percent indicating they expect these sites to deliver "the best deal."

Online Booking Since the Internet is "always open," it is perfectly positioned to help people shop in a very time-efficient manner. In fact, among people surveyed, 72 percent indicated that they begin their planning for leisure travel within eight weeks before taking the trip, with only 28 percent saying that they start researching and planning more than two months ahead of time.

Travel Health Insurance About the comScore Online Travel Industry Overview

Hotel Reservation The Online Travel Industry Overview leverages comScore Networks' proprietary panel of more than two million online consumers. Additional information was gathered through a survey conducted among 1,500 U.S. consumers to further understand their travel shopping/ purchasing habits, attitudes, and intentions.

London Hotel Booking ComScore's Online Travel Industry Overview includes:
-- Online travel industry revenues, by segment
-- Dollar share of online travel, by segment and line of business
-- Leisure travel planning time frames
-- Analysis of "first stop" destination for online travel shoppers
-- Lost sales analysis, by segment and line of business
-- Cross-shopping analysis
-- Attitudinal insight into reasons for booking travel by type of site

Discount Travel
Travel industry professionals and members of the media may request comScore's Online Travel Industry Overview by sending an e-mail to travelsolutions@comscore.com .

Orlando Hotel About comScore Networks

Booking Agency ComScore Networks provides unparalleled insight into consumer behavior and attitudes. This capability is based on a massive, global cross-section of more than 2 million consumers who have given comScore explicit permission to confidentially capture their browsing and transaction behavior, including online and offline purchasing. comScore panelists also participate in survey research that captures and integrates their attitudes and intentions. Through its proprietary technology, comScore measures what matters across a broad spectrum of behavior and attitudes. comScore consultants apply this deep knowledge of customers and competitors to help clients design powerful marketing strategies and tactics that deliver superior ROI. comScore services are used by global leaders such as AOL, Microsoft, Yahoo!, Verizon, Best Buy, The Newspaper Association of America, Tribune Interactive, ESPN, Fox Sports, Nestle, MBNA, Universal McCann, the United States Postal Service, Merck and Expedia. For more information, please visit http://www.comscore.com/ .

International Travel Medical Source: comScore Networks

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