Consumers Jump Aboard Online TravelConsumers Jump Aboard Online Travel

People are increasingly booking travel with the click of a mouse, as price, convenience and marketing lead them online to buy airline tickets and reserve cars and hotel rooms. By 2009, online travel purchases are expected to reach $91 billion, or a third of the total market, JupiterResearch, a division of Jupitermedia Corp., said Wednesday. This year, the online travel market is expected to reach $54 billion, or a fourth of all purchases. Driving the growth is the increasing number of online shoppers, which is expected to reach 45 million in 2009 from 26 million this year, the market research firm said. People making a portion of their travel purchases online today, are expected to buy more in the future.

Competitive prices are also driving more travelers to their computers, and more sites have sophisticated planning tools that let people buy plane tickets, reserve hotel rooms and cars, and even reserve seats at a restaurant or buy tickets for a concert or other event.

Finally, suppliers in the travel industry are spending more in marketing their sites to consumers and businesspeople.

"They're really trying to drive their customers online to reduce distribution costs," JupiterResearch analyst Diane Clarkson said. "Online as a channel is less expensive than the traditional call center."

Internet search engines, such as Google and Yahoo, are the starting point for 18 percent of travelers using online services, compared with 2 percent each for newspapers, magazines and radio, JupiterResearch said. The biggest drivers to a particular site, however, is a recommendation from a friend or because the consumer has used the supplier before.

The importance of search engines, however, is not reflected in the marketing budgets of travel suppliers. Many airlines, hotels, car rentals, etc. are spending too much money for advertising in traditional media to reach online travelers.

"There's a disconnection between where they're spending their marketing dollars, and what prompted consumers to visit a web site," Clarkson said.

Airlines are expected to continue taking in the most money online from leisure travelers this year, collecting $23.3 billion. Hotels are expected to take in $11.6 billion.

Direct suppliers, as opposed to travel agencies, are expected to increase their share of the online leisure travel market to 60 percent in 2009 from 56 percent this year