Traveler's Use of the Internet

Internet Use by Travelers

65 Million Americans Use the Web to Plan Vacations

The number of travelers planning vacations online is greater than ever and continues to grow. The market for online travelers has grown 252%, from just 28 million Internet travelers in 1996 to 95 million travelers who surfed the net in 2001. The incidence of Internet use among travelers has increased from 19 percent in 1996 to 68 percent in 2001. As the quality of travel Web sites improves, 94% of the 65 million travelers who planned or booked travel online were satisfied with their experience.

The following information comes from the Travel Industry Association (TIA) report of Travelers Use of the Internet-2001 Edition. In July 2001, TIA interviewed 1,300 randomly selected American adults by phone about Internet use.

Internet Use by U.S. Adults

TIA estimates that 110 million U.S. adults (53%) currently use the Internet, a 9% increase since 2000. The pace of growth slowed in 2001, from the double-digit growth reported in the late 1990's.

Internet users are younger, have more education and affluence than non-Internet users.

Internet users:

Non-Internet users:

~ 69% have some college or more

~ 29% have some college or more

~ 14% have a post graduate degree

~ 4% have a post graduate degree

~ 66% are employed full-time

~ 33% are employed full-time

~ 42% have multiple wager earners

~ 20% have multiple wager earners

~ 45% have kids in household

~ 30% have kids in household

~ Average age 40

~ Average age 52

~ 64% are 18-44 years old

~ 37% are 18-44 years old

~ Household income of $67,400

~ Household income of $29,300

Internet Use Among Travelers (Online Travelers)

Of the 110 million adults who use the Internet, 95 million (86%) took at least one trip of 50 miles or more, away from home in the past year.

More women and travelers over 55 are now surfing the net than in 2000. One in six U.S. adults over the age of 55 uses the Internet compared to only one in eight in 2000. Women now make up nearly half of all online travelers.

Online Travel Planners

Online travel planning consists of activities such as obtaining information on travel products, travel services, destinations, and/or checking prices and schedules.

65 million online travelers use the Internet to get information on destinations or to check prices or schedules. One-half of these traveler planners (32 million adults) are frequent travelers - adults who take five or more trips in a year.

90% of the online travel planners do not do all of their planning online. They also rely on word-of-mouth, airline/hotel/rental car companies, travel agents, travel guides, books/magazines, newspapers, and city/state/country tourism offices.

A little more than half (53%) search for things to do at the destination, 45% searched for dining/entertainment options and 43% were looking for local event calendars. The majority of searches included maps/driving directions (74%), airfares/schedules (69%), or accommodations (67%).

Although the popularity of search engine Web sites still runs high, it has declined from 2000. Increasing in popularity in 2001were company-owned sites (airlines, hotels, car rental, etc.), as well as travel agency sites such as Microsoft Expedia, Travelocity or Priceline. 63% of online travel planners used online agencies compared to 52% in 2000.

Demographics of online travel planners are baby boomers, employed full-time, married and have children living at home. They are also more likely to be college educated and have higher average annual household incomes.

Online Travel Reservations/Bookings

As the number of American's planning trips online has increased, the growth in online travel booking has expanded as well.

One-third of all online travelers and 48% of online travel planners (31 million) are actually booking or making travel reservations online. · Out of the 31 million online travelers who book travel online, 18 million are frequent travelers-an increase of 17% from 2000.

Airline tickets are purchased most often by online travel bookers followed by hotel rooms, car reservations, cultural event tickets, sporting events, amusement parks, travel packages and museum/festival tickets. However, ticket sales for cultural events, sporting events, and travel packages saw a decrease in online booking from 2000.

Company sites that sell directly to consumers are the most popular Web sites for booking travel. Also ranking high were online travel agency sites, search engine sites and destination sites.

Online travel planners favor search engine sites, followed by company sites, destination sites and online travel agency sites for travel planning. For travel bookers, the favored sites are company sites, followed by online travel agency sites, search engine sites, and destination sites.

Demographics of the online travel bookers were younger (44% were Generation X or Y), higher education and annual incomes ($65,800), employed full-time, and more men than women booking online.

For more information about Travel Industry of America's full report Travelers' Use of the Internet, 2001 Ed., contact Sue Hamilton at shamilton@travelwisconsin.com or 608/266-6792.

Note: The Department of Tourism is currently conducting a yearlong study of travelwisconsin.com visitors. Each month, approximately 300 responses to questions on travel habits, sources of information, travel activities and vacation planning are collected. The survey is automated and offered randomly to visitors online. A future edition of the Travel Tracker will highlight the findings upon completion of the study in the fall of 2002.