Travelers shift their purchasing to the Internet

For the first time this year, a majority of online households will book travel plans online, says a new study of the online travel market from researchers eMarketer Inc. The company reports that 41.3 million U.S. households, 52.5% of all online households, will use the Internet to arrange air travel, hotels, rental cars and vacation/cruise packages.

The eMarketer survey confirms a report last December from PhoCusWright Inc., a travel research company, that travelers will spend 54% of their budgets online this year, again the first year that online spending on travel will exceed offline spending. PhoCusWright also reports that while the U.S. accounts for 33% of worldwide travel spending, it represents 60% of all online travel spending.

This year, US online consumer travel sales will reach $94 billion, up 19% over 2006, according to eMarketer estimates.

Facing the biggest challenges as the online travel market grows are travel agencies, eMarketer says. “New travel sites and social networks are proliferating, allowing users to share photos, itineraries and information. Many of these new sites chip away at the expertise that drives people to online travel agencies, which already feel pressure from travel supplier sites like those run by airlines and hotels,” eMarketer’s US Online Travel: The Threat of Commoditization report says.