Online travel agencies still making money in today’s travel market

by Tom Johansmeyer on

There’s still money in the travel business; you just have to look in the right places. In the United States, the online leisure and unmanaged business travel sector is where you’ll find the cash — this sector is outperforming every other travel sales channel, according to a recent study by research firm PhoCusWright. In a report that the company will release soon, U.S. Online Travel Overview Ninth Edition, PhoCusWright will reveal the details behind the online leisure/unmanaged business travel’s 7% decline relative to a nationwide general fall of 16%.

“For the first time since PhoCusWright began tracking the remarkable trajectory of the internet in travel distribution, online travel will decline in 2009,” says Doublas Quinby, senior director, research at PhoCusWright. “But,” he continues, “the 7% drop in online travel vs. far steeper double-digit declines for the total travel market and offline channels indicates that travelers are increasingly turning to the Web to shop and purchase travel amid the recession.”

The contraction of the travel market in 2009 has brought the travel industry back to pre-2005 levels. The effects haven’t been as brutal in the online space, though, which has outperformed all the other channel’s this year. When the year is over, PhoCusWright expects online travel agencies to own 39% of the total travel market in the Untied States, up from 35% last year.

[Photo by borman818 via Flickr]

“By honing in squarely on consumer concerns in 2009, heavily promoting deals and last-minute special offers and eliminating many booking and customer service fees, online travel agencies have deftly outflanked recessionary pressures and are outperforming every other distribution channel,” Quinby reports. He adds, “OTAs are taking back some share from travel supplier Web sites this year.”

Europeans still booking travel online

by Tom Johansmeyer on

This year, the online travel business in Europe is expected to creep higher this year. Travel research firm PhoCusWright forecasts that online bookings will edge up to 0.6 percent this year in its latest report. Yet, this outperforms the hell out of the broader European travel market, which is expected to be down 10 percent in 2009.

Carol Rheem, director, research at PhoCusWright, says, “As Europeans seek to make the most of their treasured time off this year, they are increasingly using online options to plan the best holiday for their budget.” She continues, “Online travel agencies are weathering this economic storm better than any other booking channel.”

Though there’s still room for some sort of surprise by the end of the year (not likely), the European online travel space is expected to see gross bookings of €23 billion when we close the book on 2009, with supplier websites lagging online travel agencies.

“Even in the bleak travel backdrop of 2009, some travel companies are thriving — and not all of them are OTAs [online travel agencies]. Countercyclical trends bolster these companies while exacerbating decline for others. Those dependent on business travelers are among the hardest hit,” Rheem observes. Business travel is expected to be off 17 percent for the year.

Gadlinks for Wednesday 6.10.09

by Brenda Yun on

Here’s a sampling of the best of the rest from around the travel world:

  • Planet Eye brings us a great list of eco-travel mistakes. After a month of traveling back and forth between the mainland and Hawaii I’m feeling like I should memorize this list.
  • This summer could be the year of traveling by hobby, and the Independent Traveler has a cool list of outfitters and online resources to get you started.
  • MSNBC breaks down the world wide web’s newest online travel sites.
  • Why do you need to write a good travel story when you can write a bad one? World Hum brings us a humorous list of suggestions on how to write crappy travel tales.
  • Do you like dim sum — or just staring at the meat hanging in Chinatown store windows? BootsNAll brings us a great list of the world’s best Chinatowns.

‘Til tomorrow, have a great evening.

For past Gadlinks, click HERE.

Online bookings just got cheaper!

by Tom Johansmeyer on

Online travel deals just got better. Even though airlines are tacking on extra fees, fares have been plunging for a while now, so it still cuts in favor of travelers. Travel websites have started to get in on the savings, too. Several sites are ditching their booking fees – at least temporarily.

Orbitz, Travelocity and Expedia announced yesterday that they are waiving their booking fees. For Orbitz, this is a permanent move. In the hypercompetitive world of online travel sales, these guys are doing everything they can to get your travel dollars. So, if you’ve been waiting to save even more money on travel – as if the dirt-cheap fares aren’t enough – the deal just got a little better!

[Via BloggingStocks]

Fly to Cyprus for Less Than $40 US or Not?

by Adrienne Wilson on

Well here’s a rather bizarre story about Orbitz, one of the third-largest online travel agencies and Italian airline Alitalia. Apparently the airline accidentally listed a business-class flight from Toronto to Cyprus at $39 US on a central reservation system which then feeds flight information to online booking agencies. CNEWS notes the incorrect round-trip airfare from Toronto to Cyprus with a stop to change planes in Italy was posted with multiple departing dates on Orbitz.com, where some very lucky and not so lucky folks will probably have the vacation of their dreams. Before word among online shoppers really began to spread red flags went off and Orbitz pulled the rate to discuss with Alitalia.

To cut the crazy tale short Alitalia will be honoring a vast majority of tickets booked on Orbitz.com for those who actually received confirmation numbers from the airline. Those who never got the airline confirmation will only be reimbursed the service fee paid to Orbitz. Having experienced an online error in the past myself I have to include a moral to this story and that moral is: If something seems far too good to be true, chances are it is far too good to be true. But ahh, those very, very lucky few! Most of all it teaches us to be extra careful when booking online where glitches may be infrequent, but can always occur.

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