E-tourism in England a strategy .pdf

1.1 Internet users’ profile
Internet users tend to be relatively:
• wealthy
• well educated
• interested in independent travel
As the number of Internet users grows, particularly through increases in the use of new
access channels (especially interactive TV and mobile devices), the user profile will change,
broaden and become less up-market.
As the market has matured, there has been and will be substantial growth in both the
number and the percentage of Internet users who are buying – see Figure 3.
Figure 3: IDC Internet Commerce Market Model – worldwide (millions)
[Source: IDC, 2001]
1.2 Travel and tourism’s market share
Travel and tourism have become rapidly the single largest category of products sold over
the Internet. In 1998, Datamonitor estimated that their share of Internet commerce
increased from 7% in 1997 to 11% in 1998 and they projected an increase then to 35% by
2002. Other sources have suggested that this forecast may have been achieved already.
Jupiter has forecast that, as a result of these trends, US online travel industry sales will
increase from $24 billion in 2001 to $64 billion in 2007, of which nearly half will come
from the corporate travel market. PhoCusWright’s projections for Europe are that online
travel and tourism sales will increase from $6 billion in 2001 to $10.91 billion by 2002.
1.3 Travel products purchased
Travel Industry Association of America (TIA) research in 2001 has shown that a large
majority of Internet using US travellers have bought air tickets and made hotel reservations
online (see Figure 4). Because of the size and frequency of air ticket transactions, they have
taken the largest share of the market, but that share is diminishing, from 80% in 1998 to a
forecast 59% in 2005 (Jupiter).
37/44 A strategy for modernising English tourism through e-business – July 2002