Over 50% of Vacations now planned Online.
October 28, 2006
It’s bad news for travel agents.
According to a survey from morefocus, a majority of travelers now plan their vacations using the Internet, while only a small percentage continue to use travel agents.
The survey found the 58% of respondents tend to plan their personal travel online. That compares to only 23% who said they usually use travel agents to plan their vacations.
In fact, the survey showed that more people, 30%, actually ask someone in their family or a friend for help planning a vacation than turn to a travel agent.
“As in a number of other industries, people are using the Internet to take control of things they used to have to rely on other people for,” said Dr. Regan Carey, morefocus’ research director. “Now, you can book your own hotel, plane ticket, rental car — all without leaving your home, and you probably save money, too.”
He concluded, “It’s a trend that will only continue to grow.”
A majority of those surveyed, 55%, said they prefer to fly on vacation. Surprisingly, almost as many, 52%, said longer check-in lines at airports due to heightened security do not bother them. They view the additional wait as merely a nuisance, an unfortunate fact of life in today’s world.
