With December looming (ok so there's actually quite a while yet but it's a sunny day today and I can smell holiday) I thought it appropriate to look into some online tourism statistics. If you're in the tourism industry you should know by now that online is where it's at. A growing number of people are planning and researching their trips online and if your hotel/spa/spare bedroom isn't listed online you are missing out big time.

Remember we do a Fact Box every Friday, please let me know if there's a topic you're interested in!

From The European Travel Commission New Media Review - Online Travel Market (September 2008)

Quoting TravelMole (April 2008)

• Search engines generate more than 33% of travel enquiries - those consumers who are searching want more personalisation and want results that apply to them.

Quoting Eye For Travel (March 2008)

• 32% of online travel researchers who used UGC did so early in their research process while 56% used it to verify their hotel choices prior to booking, according to JupiterResearch's Travel Consumer Survey, 2007.
• 42% of online travellers who contributed content did so because they received an email inviting their feedback.

Quoting HotelMarketing.com (February 2008)

• Over 90% of hoteliers think it is important to monitor reviews online, yet the majority of hotels monitor comments less than once every two weeks, according to a recent survey conducted by Avalon Report of 225 three and four diamond hotels.
• Recent studies indicate up to 88% of Trip Advisor visitors are influenced by content they read.

From Travel Industry Wire - U.S. Business Travelers are 'Hyper-Connected' While French are Most 'Experience-Hungry' and Brits Watch Their Company's Bottom-Line (September 2008)

• In a survey with more than 2400 respondents across France, Germany and the UK, 85% stated that travelling is a key reason why they like their current job.
• The 'hyper-connected' tribe comprises 23 percent of corporte travellers.
• Top managers are more likely to fall into this tribe than employees (30 percent of top management vs. 19 percent of employees).
• Not surprisingly this 'hyper-connected' tribe tends to carry a BlackBerry and a WiFi-ready laptop, and they are very focused on their business objectives. At the highest, more than one in four (28 percent) of U.S. corporate travellers belong to this tribe. In other countries the rate declines with the lowest being Canada (19 percent).

From HotelMarketing.com - Online marketing careers in the hospitality industry (June 2007)

• Starwood Hotels & Resorts had about 4 to 5 property level online marketing executives / managers in 2005 in the Africa & Middle East region – today this same number is over 13 in the Middle East region alone.
• Hotels in the Middle East have seen modest revenue channel contributions of 5-10% but the growth year-over-year has been extremely positive and the future looks very bright.
• Overall, looking at the top 21 hotel brands worldwide, TravelCLICK’s eTRAK reports that the Internet accounted for 38.3 percent of 2006 brand hotel bookings, driven by a 20.2 percent growth rate compared to 2005.

From Reportlinker.com - China Online Tourism Industry and Listed Tourism Companies (2007-2008)

• The number of netizens taking the Internet as the main channel to get tourism information accounted for 66.7% of China's total.
• Netizens who have made a hotel reservation via the Internet amounted to 70.2% of China's total.
• Netizens who have booked air tickets via the Internet accounted for 70.7% of China's total.
• Netizens who have booked holiday products via the Internet amounted to 20.3% of China's total.
• The year 2007 witnessed a healthy growth in the online travel booking market in China, and the market size amounted to CNY2.55 billion, up 65.4% from the previous year.
• Stimulated by the 2008 Beijing Olympics as well as the development of the business travel and private travel market, it is forecasted that the online travel market size will reach CNY4.38 billion in 2008, rising 70.9% against a year earlier.