Search, Shop, Buy: Inside the Tangled Web of Online Travel

As the online travel market continues to mature and growth slows from the extreme pace seen in earlier phases, competition for online travel shoppers is intensifying. The flagging economy means that travelers will be even more careful when deciding how to spend their hard-earned travel dollars. This could potentially increase searching and shopping behaviors, but may shrink the overall travel-bookings pie.

Bookings, however, are no longer the whole story. There are numerous new entrants to the online travel space that offer travelers a wealth of tools designed to enhance the search and shopping processes. Travel 2.0 has introduced sites dedicated to travel reviews, social networking, search and rich media.

PhoCusWright partnered with New York-based online competitive intelligence service Hitwise to analyze online search and traffic patterns to determine how Travel 2.0, the Long Tail and search are affecting the online travel space.

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