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Credit Card Travel Tips: Some Do's and Don't's
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Save Lots By Booking Your Travel Online
These days the easiest way to plan your next trip or
vacation away from home is by making an online travel
booking. Perhaps your idea of a vacation away is somewhere
balmy and exotic, where you can spend your days sipping
cocktails by a...
Travel and Tourism in Sierra Leone is a Hot Topic!
Until a few days ago, if you had asked me to tell you about Sierra Leone, I would have had to think long and hard to tell you much about this West African country. I could probably have explained roughly where the country is located. I may have...
Travelers with Disabilities: The Untapped Market
When most people think about accommodating people with disabilities in their business they get a scared feeling in their gut and their mind scrambles to search for that all-important date when the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) went into...
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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.
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