Consumers of all ages turn to
online travel bookings
A
new
travel study, "Online Travel Comes of Age,"
reveals that consumer's travel planning preferences
vary dramatically across generations - especially when
purchasing travel online.
Compete Inc. (administrator of the study)'s research
revealed that Baby Boomers (aged 45 to 64) are a travel
distributor's best bet to capture a booking. Over 10 percent
of the 17 million Baby Boomers who research travel online
each month will also book online, considerably more
than Young Travelers who tend to window-shop, and Seniors
who may be uncomfortable purchasing over the web.
Compete analyzed travelers' behavior in seven different
generational segments to understand generational differences
in how travelers use online resources as they research
and book travel online. Each generation was benchmarked
in the number and type of travel sites used, agency
versus supplier preferences, booking decisions, and
brand preferences. The study examined traveler behavior
across more than 1,000 online travel destinations.
Fast Facts on Online Travel
Young Travelers (18-24)
are an online agency's best friend. They are influenced
by the flashy marketing campaigns of online agencies
and consequently spend more time on agency sites — especially
price focused destinations like CheapTickets and Hotwire.
Young Travelers will visit an average of 1.7 online
agencies when looking for travel, the highest of any
generational segment. Just 19 percent of these Generation "Y"
travelers bypass agencies entirely, compared to 32 percent
of seniors.
Seniors (65+) prefer booking
directly with airlines and hotels
that offer low-rate guarantees and other perks. Nearly
80 percent of the flights booked online by Seniors are done
at supplier sites, while the figure drops as low as
72 percent for 25-34 year olds. Similarly, 68% of hotel bookings
made by Seniors are at supplier direct sites, compared
to 58 percent for the 25-34 age group.
Baby Boomers
view an average of 36 pages of travel content when researching
online. This is 15 percent more than Young Travelers and 25 percent
more than seniors. Of the travel content viewed by this
group, over 70 percent takes place on agency, hotel supplier,
and airline carrier websites.
For more information, please
visit Compete.
(Source:
Compete)
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