US $2,175.00

Online Travel Shopping and Buying Behavior: Key European Markets

December 2005
USD $2,175 CAD $2,187 GBP £1088 EUR €1372

This report provides a comparison of the shopping and purchasing dynamics in three of Europe's largest online leisure travel markets - the U.K., Germany and France. It highlights the findings from PhoCusWright’s groundbreaking European email study conducted among a total of 600 respondents during Summer 2005. Similarities - and differences - in these European markets are highlighted, and the report helps to:

Understand the online shopping and purchasing dynamics of the online travel buyer across key European countries
Profile the different types of holidays taken, under the premise that shopping and buying habits vary based on the length, duration and destination of travel
Discuss what types of travel are purchased, the preferred online channel for shopping and purchasing and the rationale for doing so
Probe the motivating factors that influence online travel buyers’ use of offline channels and those elements that cause them to switch from offline to online

Table of Contents Methodology

TABLE OF CONTENTS ^top

Table of Contents

Overview

Methodology

Strategic Implications

Conclusion

Key Findings

Holiday Behavior

Lodging Preferences

Shopping & Buying Dynamics

METHODOLOGY ^top

“Online travel buyers” were identified as those who purchased air and/or hotel (3+ nights) in the past year, and were invited to participate in Greenfield Online, a global online Web panel whose members are recruited for research purposes.

Qualified respondents for this study: 1) Took a trip by commercial airline and/or rail in the last 12 months; 2) Stayed at a hotel for a vacation in the last 12 months; 3) Purchased airline, rail or hotel online for vacation or holiday in the last 12 months.

Panel members were recruited through high-value media, including embedded text links, editorial inclusion, targeted opt-in email lists, word of mouth, coregistrations and online promotions to ensure a representative sampling from each region. A total of 600 interviews were completed, each averaging eight minutes in length, in July 2005. Equal quotas of 200 were set for each country. The results were tested for significant differences, noted at the 95% level of confidence or higher. The error interval for the sample of 600 is +/- 4.4% at the 95% confidence level.

This report highlights European trends, as well as notable differences among the countries investigated and the threeholiday lengths critical to the European travel market, including long weekends, short or week-long holidays, and two to four-week holidays. Within this report, significant differences between key subsegments are noted by a capitalized letter beside appropriate percentages in columns and footnoted beneath the corresponding table. Each capitalized letter signifies a column where significant differences exist between that column and the other noted columns.