The fact that you find yourself reading this story online, on Cheapflights’ Flight News, reflects a key finding in a new report: the expansion of the online leisure market in this country is outpacing growth in the travel market as a whole.
The travel industry research firm PhoCusWright made the assessment in its latest U.S. Online Travel Overview. The research company says the leisure/unmanaged business travel market will surpass $94 billion in 2007, making up more than one-third of the total travel market.
What’s at work here? Online suppliers are gaining market share in the airline, car rental, and hotel arenas. Online travel agencies are competing by packaging, and add-ons. Search and metasearch techniques continue to work in favor of suppliers, as they drive traffic to their Web sites to book, after comparison-shopping.
PhoCusWright says all travel companies are going to have to embrace consumers who want to shift between on and offline travel channels.
However Lorraine Sileo, the company’s Vice President of Research, offers a caveat: “While online travel’s growth continues to exceed that of the market as a whole, that growth has slowed compared to recent years.”
© Cheapflights Ltd Jerry Chandler
