Research Updates

Online travel agencies (OTAs) lead all travel categories in terms of monthly unique visitors, attracting more than twice as many visitors as airline websites, the most popular supplier website category. According to PhoCusWright's Japan Online Travel Traffic Report (a Global and Asia Pacific Edition publication), in May – July 2011, OTAs attracted an average of 11.3 million monthly unique visitors. Approximately one third of all travel category visitors visited an OTA site in this period. Travel information sites – the second-most frequented online travel category in Japan – averaged 7.1 million monthly unique visitors in May – July 2011.
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It's official: smartphones are no longer cutting edge. They are conventional. More than half of all leisure travelers and nearly three in four business travelers now own a smartphone, according to new, comprehensive analysis of mobile traveler behavior from PhoCusWright. But as travel companies aim to engage this broad audience, mobile Web users are becoming increasingly fragmented and harder to reach. New users are connecting through multiple platforms, as mobile functionality reinvents itself daily. And aggressive multi-channel mobile strategies yield heaps of websites and apps that do the exact same thing. The result is that for travel merchants and marketers, smartphone owners remain an enormous, but still highly elusive target.
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When it comes to online travel penetration, not all European markets are created equal. Online leisure/unmanaged business travel share of the total travel market varies significantly by country, with the U.K. leading the pack, and Spain and Italy lagging far behind, according to PhoCusWright's European Online Travel Overview Seventh Edition.
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Japan is home to one of Asia Pacific's largest and most dynamic online travel markets. But traffic to travel websites in Japan declined significantly in the wake of the calamity, while overall Internet traffic grew in the same period. PhoCusWright's Japan Online Travel Traffic Report (a Global and Asia Pacific Edition publication) reveals that online travel websites attracted 8% fewer visitors in May – July 2011 compared to the same period in 2010, while overall Internet traffic rose 1%.
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A recent report from PhoCusWright reveals that while U.S. consumers who plan their travel online frequently engage with or endorse their favorite brands on social networks, relatively few "like" or "follow" travel companies online. According to PhoCusWright's Traveler Technology Survey 2011, travelers who are active on online social networks are as likely to "follow" or "like" a company as they are to post general comments or photos on a social network. However, less than three in 10 have "liked" or "followed" a travel company, suggesting that despite their strong branding and often ambitious social media plans, many travel companies have fallen flat with their fans online.
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Although U.S. online leisure/unmanaged business travel market growth continues to outpace the total travel market, the days of lightning-fast online growth are gone for good. The share of U.S. travel booked online (i.e., online leisure/unmanaged business travel as a share of the total market) will increase to 40% by 2013, growing just one percentage point over five years. Yet despite the slowing overall growth trend, online penetration continues to vary significantly by segment. Only two segments were expected to book half or more of their sales online in 2011: air (50%) and rail (54%). At the other end of the spectrum, online bookings were projected to comprise only 11% of cruise and 5% of traditional vacation packages. Both segments rely heavily on traditional travel agencies for distribution. With the U.S. online market at a stage of maturity, in the short term, rail and hotel and lodging are the only segments expected to gain significant share in online penetration. By...
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Europe's online travel market is thriving, and the region's fastest-growing distribution channel is leading the way. Riding the crest of the market recovery, online travel agencies (OTAs) were projected to grow 19% in 2011 to reach €33.4 billion, according to PhoCusWright's European Online Travel Overview Seventh Edition. By comparison, supplier website bookings were expected to grow just 9%, giving OTAs a substantial edge. "OTAs are benefiting from Europe's fragmented travel industry, along with ongoing weakness in many of the European economies," said Clement Wong, director, research EMEA at PhoCusWright…
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Travelers in the U.S. and Europe are increasingly turning to traveler review websites when choosing a leisure travel destination, according to the recent PhoCusWright report, Destination Unknown: How U.S. and European Travelers Decide Where to Go 2011. But while the influence of travel review websites is growing, travelers in some markets still prefer to get their reviews from online travel agencies (OTAs).
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The dynamic between supplier websites and online travel agencies (OTAs) is shifting yet again. While OTAs outperformed supplier websites throughout the recession, the online pendulum is now swinging in the opposite direction, according to PhoCusWright's U.S. Online Travel Overview Eleventh Edition. Fueled by the weak economy and deal-hungry consumers, OTAs were able to grab a larger piece of the online leisure/unmanaged business travel market in 2009: OTA share grew to 40% in 2009 from 38% the previous year. But the gain has proven to be short-lived. Supplier share will grow to 62% in 2011, reaching 63% by 2012.
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A new report from PhoCusWright reveals that U.S. consumers who plan their travel online use more Web-enabled devices than ever, and that a growing share of these tools empower them to connect to the Internet on-the-go... before, during and after their trips. According to PhoCusWright's Traveler Technology Survey 2011, online travelers now own an average of 2.7 Web-enabled devices. These include smartphones, tablets, laptops and other portable electronics that offer unprecedented flexibility in when and where consumers connect, and the online activities they can engage in. Based on a comprehensive survey of online travelers in the U.S., PhoCusWright's Traveler Technology Survey 2011 examines the relationship between emerging technologies and the leisure traveler, with a focus on smartphones and other mobile devices, as well as social networks. According to the report, more than half of U.S. online travelers now own a smartphone, which significantly influences how consumers use...
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