MIAMI BEACH -- Fewer on-line travelers in the U.S. are making a
habit of going to brick-and-mortar agencies to buy air tickets for
leisure trips, according to a survey by PhoCusWright, a Sherman,
Conn.-based Internet travel research and consulting firm.
In its second annual Travel e-Commerce Survey, PhoCus-Wright
said the number of on-line travelers who usually go to a travel
agency to buy leisure air tickets dropped from 55% in 1998 to 47%
this year.
About 19% of on-line travelers said they usually go on line to
buy air tickets, up from 10% last year, PhoCusWright said.
On-line travelers are defined in the survey as Americans who had
flown on a commercial carrier in the past year and visited Web
sites in the past month.
The survey showed that consumers don't necessarily take an
either-or view of on-line travel and traditional agencies as places
to book travel.
Slightly more than 50% of on-line travel bookers continue to
make some of their travel purchases through a traditional agency,
PhoCusWright said, but this year's results still "indicate a
significant loss of business" for off-line agents.
The survey, summarized here at the PhoCusWright Live99
conference, was based on telephone surveys.
Booking travel on line appears to be of keen interest to on-line
travelers who have yet to use their computers and modems to make
any sort of purchase, survey results indicated.
PhoCusWright said 65% of the "nonbuyers" among on-line travelers
are interested in booking travel on line. This puts interest in
travel purchases a "whopping" 20 percentage points ahead of the
Web's two next-most-compelling products, computers and books.
Lorraine Sileo, vice president of information services for
PhoCusWright, said the survey showed that Americans who buy travel
on line are more confident this year than last year about on-line
prices, customer service and credit card security.
"Their perception of you is very, very good," Sileo told
conference delegates, who included representatives of a variety of
Web travel companies.
For about 76% of the nonbuyers in the survey, the biggest
objection to buying on the Web was the lack of personal contact,
Sileo said.
Fieldwork for the survey was conducted by International
Communications Research, an independent company in Media, Pa.
For information on ordering a copy of the survey, PhoCusWright
can be contacted at (860) 350-4084, Ext. 230, or by e-mail at [email protected].