Online Travel Revenues To Rise By 20% In 2005
Online travel revenues are forecast to rise by nearly 20% this year, with new estimates from Jupiter Research predicting spend in the US to rise to $104 billion by 2010, representing 34% of all travel expenditure.
The shift to online travel booking is being driven in part by supplier companies in the hotel, airline and car rental industries. By using online pricing and packaging incentives, they hope to garner a greater share of the business.
The strong performance in the online travel division is echoed in predictions from Merrill Lynch, with the analyst slightly less optimistic that Jupiter, forecasting online travel agency revenues to rise by 19% in 2005, reaching $27.7 billion (see Online Travel Revenues To Rise By 19% In 2005).
Merrill claims that online travel sales are winning a larger share of the overall travel market, accounting for nearly 30% of the total this year, up from 25% in 2004 and 21% in 2003.
Data published by internet research specialists Nielsen//NetRatings Travel revealed that travel websites attracted 2.2 million more European women in February 2005 compared to the same period last year, enjoying a 23% year on year increase (see Travel Websites Attract 23% More European Women In February 2005).
Women are shown to now account for 44% of visitors to travel websites, compared to 36% in 2004, with Sweden, the UK, France, Spain, Germany, Switzerland and Italy all experiencing growth.
