US $1,795.00

The PhoCusWright Consumer Travel Trends Survey Tenth Edition

June 2008
US $1,795 CA $1,811 £1185 €1325

This report is available in both PDF and print formats.

This report highlights a series of key online buying and shopping metrics that have been tracked since the study's inception as well as new issues, behaviors and motivations from which trends and critical market forces are identified. Each year the report profiles unique and important buying segments that offer new market opportunities for travel providers.

The PhoCusWright Consumer Travel Trends Survey Tenth Edition will help you:

Uncover market segments with the greatest travel and online buying potential for target.
Identify if the method of purchasing travel is scenario-specific or consistent across different types of travel and thus a strong predictor of behavior.
Discover if the fragmented leisure travel market fosters brand confusion or a much needed array of choices for the online leisure traveler.

The report will also answer questions that are top-of-mind:

What are the usual channel and methods used for shopping and purchasing travel and how has this shifted over time?
Do online travelers use the same online method when purchasing travel or does this vary by component?
What travel components are most frequently purchased online and is this changing as the market matures?
How influential are social networks in determining where leisure travel is purchased and does this sphere of influence extend to business travel?

Report Highlights Include

Exclusive online buyers account for two-thirds of all online travelers and represent an important source of future revenue opportunity. Players in the U.S. online travel market need to stay on top of the latest intelligence about their customers.
OTAs dominate every leisure travel component category purchased online and across different travel scenarios tested. This underscores not only the power of increased advertising spend but their broadening reach, brand awareness, appeal to the novice user, diverse content, complex offering and user-focused approach.
Despite increased rates and increasing economic pressures last year, hotel was the top component purchased overall. This underscores consumers’ need for a change in venue to really disengage while traveling for leisure, ability to find deals and the plethora of inventory and more unique hotel options available online.
With half of online travelers using the same purchase method for leisure as they do for business travel, travel providers have the opportunity to cross-sell leisure travel to this coveted group of business travelers.
Frequent travelers and seasoned online buyers continue to dominate, but now the former “diehard” offline users have begun to use the Internet as their usual method for travel shopping and purchasing. As novice users, this “late majority” possesses different travel and purchase behavior, has varying levels of online technology savvy, requires different messaging and is demographically unique.
And much more!

Table of Contents Methodology

TABLE OF CONTENTS ^top

Overview
Methodology
Definitions
Online Traveler Population on Upswing
Two Segments Drive Online Leisure Travel Buying Growth
Leisure Travel Maturation Migrates Industry Through Next Cycle of the Online Adoption Curve
Trip Behavior
Travel Purchasing
Usual Shopping & Purchase Methods
Business Travel
Study Demographics
Survey Questions

LIST OF TABLES
U.S. Online Traveler Incidence
Online Travel Buyers
Incidence of Personal Online Travel Shopping & Buying
Innovation Adoption Curve
Usual Channel for Shopping & Buying Leisure Travel
Nuances of Exclusive Channel Buyers
Incidence of Trips Taken, Past Year
Number of Trips Taken, Past Year
Frequency of Travel, by Type of Leisure Trip Taken, Past Year
Incidence & Frequency of Travel, By Type of Leisure Traveler
Segments With Highest Frequency of Leisure Trips, Past Year
Travel Purchase Incidence & Frequency, By Component
Online Travel Purchase Trade-Offs
Online Travel Purchase Incidence, By Component
Mean Frequency of Purchasing Simple vs. Complex Travel Online
Online Leisure Travel Purchase Incidence Among Component Purchasers
Usual Shopping & Buying Behavior, by Channel
Usual Shopping & Buying Behavior, by Method
Usual Shopping & Buying Behavior, by Specific Method
Usual Travel Shopping & Purchasing Method
Number of Web Sites Shopped, by Leisure Component
Number of Web Sites Shopped for Leisure vs. Business Travel
Number of Web Sites Shopped for Leisure Components, by Usual Purchase Method
Positive Influence of Web Site Features on Where Leisure Travel is Purchased Online
Online Leisure Travel Purchase Incidence, by Segment, 2007
Online Leisure Travel Purchase Incidence, by Segment, 2006
Usual Online Purchase Method, by Travel Component Purchased (2007 vs. 2006)
Online Component Incidence & Mean*Frequency, by Method Usually Purchased (2007)
Online Component Incidence & Mean* Frequency,by Method Usually Purchased (2006)
Method of Purchase by Travel Scenario
Percent of Online Travel Agency Shoppers Buying Elsewhere
Channel Loyalty, by Component Purchased (2007)
Channel Loyalty, by Component Purchased (2006)
Incidence and Frequency of Business Travel, Past Year
Usual Method of Business Travel Purchase
Incidence of Using Same Method for Business & Leisure Travel
Employment Status of Online Travelers Traveling for Business
Usual Channel of Business Travel Purchase
Number of Business Travel Purchases Online, By Component, 2007
Number of Business Travel Purchases Online, by Component, 2006
Demographic Profile of Study Participants

METHODOLOGY ^top

The purpose of The PhoCusWright Consumer Travel Trends Survey Tenth Edition is to gather information about U.S. “online travelers’” travel shopping and buying behaviors. Online travelers were identified through successive waves of ICR’s EXCEL Omnibus. To qualify for participation in the study, respondents had to indicate if they:

Had personally taken a trip by commercial airline in the last 12 months;

Had personally stayed at a hotel for a vacation or any leisure travel in the last 12 months; and

Had used a computer, either at home or at work, to connect to the Internet in the last month.

A total of 500 interviews were conducted via telephone and averaged 22 minutes in length.

Quotas were set based on the percent distribution of males and females in the Northeast, North Central, South and West regions of the country. These percentages are based on the distribution of the population from the Omnibus database development phase. Upon completion of the study, additional demographic characteristics were used to weight the data to more accurately represent the population of "online travelers."

The results were tested for significant differences, which are noted at the 95% level of confidence or higher. The error interval for the sample of 500 is +/- 4.4% at the 95% confidence level.

Within this report, significant differences between key sub-segments are noted by a capitalized letter beside the percentage and footnoted beneath the corresponding table. Each capitalized letter signifies a column where significant differences exist between that column and the other noted columns.

Because of the accelerating growth of the online corporate travel market, PhoCusWright expanded the scope of the Consumer Travel Trends Survey Tenth Edition to report on the travel buying practices of frequent business travelers who are also Web users. To accomplish this and ensure a nationally representative sampling, PhoCusWright supplemented the responses of the frequent business traveler from the telephone study with a Web-based survey among business travelers who met the same criteria. A total of 333 business travelers were surveyed, 230 of which were derived from the email survey and 103 from the telephone survey. These findings will be reported in a forthcoming report, The PhoCusWright Business Travel Trends Survey Third Edition.