eMarketer projects that online leisure and unmanaged business travel sales in the UK will total $21 billion this year, a 27% increase over 2006. But the annual sales growth rate will rapidly decelerate over the next four years, dropping below the teens.
So who exactly is using the Web for travel?
Silver surfers had the largest representation of any age group on UK travel Websites in March 2007, according to Hitwise. Cruise sites in particular were popular with this age group. Hitwise found that in a recent month, cruise sites received 48% of their visitor traffic from Internet users ages 55 and older.
What makes silver surfers such an attractive consumer segment is that in addition to being avid travelers and financially secure, they enjoy taking premium vacations. Hitwise's demographic profile also revealed that more women than men in the UK visited travel Websites in March 2007, 53% to 47%, respectively. Similar US demographic data collected by Hitwise in August 2006 found that women constituted a minority (47%) of visitors to travel Websites. Also, one-quarter of UK visitors to travel Websites were at the highest rung on the economic ladder.
One of the reasons UK travelers hit the Internet is to harness the experience of other travelers. Over a fifth of UK Internet users believe Websites like TripAdvisor that provide reviews by other travelers are the most trusted online sources for reliable travel information, according to a January 2007 survey conducted by Nielsen//NetRatings and commissioned by marketing agency Harvest Digital and pan-European advertising network Adviva.
More consumers trusted sites with amateur reviews (21%) than professionally written guides (15%), regardless of whether they are online tourist guides, such as TimeOut.com, or local information sites like VisitScotland.com. Sites operated by travel agents and airlines were even less likely to be a consumer's first source for reliable destination information.
Learn how travelers from the Continent use the Internet. Read the eMarketer European Online Travel report.