Overwhelmingly, consumersare turning to the Internet for their summer travel planning and purchasing needs…
Overwhelmingly, consumersare turning to the Internet for their summer travel planning and purchasing needs, according to independent research conducted by Feedback Research, a division of the Claria Corporation, a leader in onlinebehavioral marketing.
By analyzing the actual online traffic and conducting a survey among a sample of Claria`s tens of millions of software users, Feedback Research was able to gain insight into online travel research and purchasing habits. Data was analyzed from April 1 through July 1, 2005, in the months leading up to summer vacation travel. A survey was also conducted among users who viewed travel category sites in the prior 30 days and also had purchased travel in the prior 12 months.
Results indicated that consumers are still taking a trip to the Internet for their travel planning and purchasing needs, with 88% of survey respondents who went or are planning to go on summer vacation using or planning to use the Internet to research and/or purchase their summer vacation arrangements this year. 61% of respondents who went or were planning to go on summer vacation this year purchased or planned to purchase airline tickets online, +11 pts vs. those who went on a summer vacation last year. 52% purchased or planned to purchase hotel accommodations online, a +12 pt increase from last year.
Further results indicate:
Consumers Travel Online to Compare Prices
Low prices seem to be the key driver for consumers researching and buying travel for their summer vacations this year:
When purchasing travel arrangements, 53% of respondents indicated that they would travel with the brand/company that offered the lowest price.
Among respondents who purchased travel online:
- 78% chose the site(s) they typically purchase from because of good prices/rates;
- 56% because the site was easy to use; and
- 28% because of loyalty or frequent flyer programs.
- 73% of respondents who purchased travel online have researched travel at a general site, but then went to a specific company`s site to purchase their travel arrangements.
- 52% of those respondents did so because they found that company sites offered the lowest prices.
- 47% cited special deals and 43% cited better prices at company sites while 22% wanted to receive frequent flyer credit.
Consumers, perhaps looking for a low-cost travel deal, seemed to site-hop between general travel sites and major airline sites:
- Over half of those who viewed Delta.com, United.com or Southwest.com during research period, also viewed Orbitz.com.
- Site-hopping also seemed to be popular among general travel sites; Of those who viewed Hotwire.com during the research period, 71% also viewed Orbitz.com, 67% also viewed Expedia.com and 62% also viewed Travelocity.com.
- Of all travel category sites, airline only sites seemed to have to most repeat viewers per month during the research period: Southwest.com had the most repeat viewers with the average viewer coming back 9.31 times, this followed by AlaskaAir.com with 9.29 times and NorthwestAirlines.com with 9.19 times.
Internet Eases Procrastination for Travel Planners
Among respondents who went or were planning to go on summer vacation this year:
- 73% started planning 1 week to 3 months before leaving. Travel sites saw their biggest increases in traffic in mid-June. Hotels.com saw the biggest jump, closely followed by Marriott.com, Cheaptickets.com and Orbitz.com.
- 50% of respondents typically purchase travel arrangements online 1 to 2 times a year while 27% purchased travel arrangements online 3 to 5 times a year.
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
