Executive Summaries - Travelers' Use of the Internet, 2004 Edition

Current Use of the Internet in the U.S.

• The Travel Industry Association (TIA) estimates that 54 percent of the 209.4 million adults in the U.S. currently use the Internet, up one percentage point from 2001. This translates to 113 million adults and growth of three percent over 2001 when 110 million adults said they used the Internet. Internet penetration among U.S. adults is no longer experiencing the rapid growth seen in the late 1990s.
• Today, 85 percent of the 113 million adults who use the Internet indicate they are travelers, meaning they have taken at least one trip of 50 miles or more away from home in the past year, not including daily commuting. This translates to a market of 96 million travelers who use the Internet (i.e. online travelers).

Use of the Internet Among U.S. Travelers

• This market of 96 million online travelers has grown 256 percent from 1996, when only 27 million travelers used the Internet. Among the 143.3 million U.S. travelers today, 67 percent use the Internet. Frequent travelers taking five or more trips annually, have an even higher likelihood of using the Internet (74%).
• Compared to 2001, the demographic profile of online travelers has shifted slightly. Now, over half (52%) of online travelers are women compared to 49 percent in 2001. A higher share of online travelers have children in the household than last year (48% vs. 43%). Also, half (50%) of online travelers have an annual household income of under $50,000 vs. 46 percent in 2001.

Use of the Internet for Travel Planning and Reservations

• While growth of the online traveler market has slowed, the number of online travelers who actually use the Internet to plan trips has remained relatively stable. A majority (67%) of online travelers say they consult the Internet to get information on destinations or to check prices or schedules. This translates to 64 million online travel planners in 2002, similar to the prior year.
• Not surprisingly, nearly all online travel planners say that some of the trips planned on the Internet in the past year were for pleasure, vacation, or personal purposes. Three in ten say some of the trips planned on the Internet were for business or convention purposes.
• For online travel planning, online travel agency websites (such as Microsoft Expedia, Travelocity, or Priceline), search engine websites, and company-owned websites (airlines, hotels, etc.) are the most popular types of websites used. A majority of online travel planners also use destination websites.
• Online travel planners do a variety of trip planning activities on the Internet. The most popular are searching for searching for airfares/schedules, maps or driving directions, and looking for places to stay.
• While the growth in the number of Americans planning trips online has remained relatively stable, there has been strong growth in online travel booking. Indeed, four in ten (41%) online travelers are booking or making travel reservations online. This may include booking an airline ticket, hotel room, rental car or package tour online. Today, there are 39.0 million online travel bookers, an increase of 25 percent over 2001.
• Nearly all of those who make travel reservations online say they made reservations for pleasure, vacation, or personal purposes. About three in ten say they made reservations for business or convention purposes.
• Among those who have booked travel online, the most popular item to purchase online is airline tickets. A majority of online travel bookers have reserved overnight lodging accommodations, and over one-third have made rental car reservations.
• The most popular types of websites used to book travel are online travel agency sites such as Microsoft Expedia, Travelocity or Priceline and company websites, such as airline, hotel, or rental car companies that sell directly to consumers. More than one-third of online travel bookers pay for or make their reservations using search engine sites.

Internet Use While Traveling

• Portable electronic communication devices such as cell phones, laptops, and personal digital assistants help people stay connected while away from home or office. In fact, large majorities of business travelers and pleasure travelers said that they brought cellular telephones with them on a trip taken in the past year. One in four business travelers brought a laptop computer with them on a trip, but only about one-tenth of pleasure travelers did so.
• With the advent of wireless technology, portable devices are now being used to access the Internet for information, including travel information. Whether using a computer, cell phone, or PDA, four in ten business travelers say they have gone online while away from home. One in five pleasure travelers also claim to have accessed the Internet while on a past-year pleasure trip.