According to eMarketer, fewer travellers are booking more travel online.

eMarketer forecasts U.S. online travel sales to reach $105 billion this year, up 12 percent over bookings in 2007. Furthermore, it estimates total U.S. online leisure and unmanaged business travel sales (including airline, hotel, rental car, vacation package, intercity rail and cruise) to be $105 billion this year and increase by an average of 11.6 percent to reach $162 billion in 2012.

However, eMarketer contends that fewer travellers are making all these bookings, due to limited planning and booking capabilities offered by online travel agencies. Evidently fed up with unfriendly booking and navigation functionality, more travellers are looking for the personalized and value-added services of both traditional travel agencies and travel-focused social networks.

Source: eMarketer, “Where Have All the Online Travelers Gone?”, eMarketer, August 25, 2008

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