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Informative Articles

Rail Travel Tips
Traveling by train, in itself, is fun. The continuous jostling of the compartments, screeching of train brakes and the loud horns make train traveling a real fun. However you need to take care of certain things while traveling, so that the...

Save Money On Travel Reservations
Cheap Reservations without the Hassle - Plan your vacations on off seasons, Hotel rates, even airline and car rental rates are lower during this time due to lower demand. You can get as much as a 50% discount if you book a room during off...

Successfull travel is not just cheap plane tickets
Planning ahead when traveling can save you so much time. Simple things such as trying to find cheap plane tickets is obvious, but researching your selected place of travel is the most important thing you can do to ensure a fantastic holiday or...

Thailand - The Land of Smiles and Cheap Travel
Thailand is known as the land of smiles, which is amazing considering the traffic jams in Bangkok. For budget travelers, Thailand simply can't beat on price alone. Thailand Thailand is an odd mix of contrasts. It can be extremely stressful...

Travel and Scenic Photography 101
When you're driving through the mountains somewhere, and you notice a car parked half off the road and some guy leaning to the left to avoid a branch with his Rebel 2000 camera in the act of focusing, you've met me. I do this because, to me, a trip...

 
Online Travel Statistics

The Travel Industry Association of America (TIA) released their annual Travelers’ Use of the Internet study in December 2003. The study shows an increase in the number of people using the internet to research and book travel.

TIA found that 30% of the adult U.S. population (63.8 million) consult the web for travel information. These travelers spend (on average) $300 more on travel, and nearly 40% had an annual household income above $75,000.

Online travelers surf to two or more travel websites, spending an average of 37 minutes. They research and compare prices, check schedules and book trips. The number of people actually booking online increased by 8% over 2002 and grew to 42.2 million people in 2003. Within this group of online travelers, 32 million people made travel arrangements exclusively through the internet (a figure expected to grow according to the TIA).

10 million travelers responded to


email campaigns, causing the TIA to believe that email campaigns are stimulating unplanned travel.

TIA stated that the top 10 travel websites are:
Expedia
Travelocity
Orbitz
Yahoo Travel
Cheap Tickets
Hot Wire
VIPfares
Priceline.com
ITN.net
TravelNow.com

If your business supplies lodging, real estate, shopping, recreation, dining, events or tourist related specialty services, it may be wise to place advertisements with these websites. If you are not making full use of the internet for your marketing campaigns you are missing 30% of your potential market.

As online travelers’ habits become more sophisticated you will find them expecting to find and book everything from one location.

About the Author

MARKETING COORDINATOR and WEBSITE DESIGNER-Radha Khalsa, has extensive experience in the areas of marketing analysis, strategic planning and project management.