Travel 2.0 making an impact
Travelers are no longer just relying on glossy brochures, slick online travel websites, and their well traveled friends to make decisions about where to go and what to do on holidays. More and more they are using sites that specialize in letting travelers share their stories with each other, for mutual benefit.
According to a just September 2008 released study by Prophis eResearch, an estimated 19 million online Americans have visited one of the top ten travel 2.0 traveler community based sites such as TripAdvisor in the past 12 months.
Survey findings obtained in August 2008 from US online consumers shows that 50% online travelers see internet traveler reviews and ratings — the core unique component of so-called travel 2.0 based sites — as an important component in making decisions about personal travel.
This shows that travel 2.0 has moved confidently beyond jargon and fad and is now firmly entrenched in the travel industry consciousness as an idea whose time has come.
""Travel 2.0 community site users tend to come from households with more income and tend to spend more on personal travel than non-users of travel 2.0 sites who travel"", adds Stuart Hemerling, Senior Consultant with Prophis Research. ""That they are an important group to understand for travel marketers can not be overstated"".
With the proliferation of user generated content in the travel realm, the main questions for marketers and those with a stake in travel provision are where, when, how, and to what extent will travel 2.0 function and content change the way people think about their travel.
What is travel 2.0?
- How well known and widely used are sites specializing in travel 2.0?
- Who uses travel 2.0 sites?
- How important are they for online travelers in personal travel decision making?
- How do online travelers rate travel 2.0 websites?
- How much do users of travel 2.0 use social networks like MySpace and Facebook?
These questions and more addressed with findings and insights Prophis eResearch | imarketinsights.com Travel 2.0 US Report (Published: September 2008, 39 pages, 32 charts) report will assist travel industry stakeholders gain an upper hand in understanding why and how travel 2.0 matters.
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- i. Travel 2.0 Report Introduction
- 1. Travel 2.0 Website Brand Awareness and Usage
- 2. Travel-related Behavior
- 2.1 Personal Travel Activities
- 2.2 Personal Travel Information Seeking and Booking
- 2.3 Spend on Personal Travel
- 3. Meta-Search Use and Online Travel Booking
- 4. Personal Travel Decision Making Influencers
- 5. What is Important in a Travel 2.0 Site
- 5.1 Traveler-generated Content
- 5.2 Professional-generated Content
- 5.3 Access and Social Network Integration
- 5.4 Tools
- 6. Web 2.0 Behavior and Social Networking among Online Travelers
- 7. Demographic Profiles
- 8. Travel 2.0 Site Evaluations
- 9. Key Learnings
- List Of Figures
- Figure 1: Brand awareness of 10 selected ""travel 2.0"" sites
- Figure 2: Usage of selected “travel 2.0” sites in the past 12 months.
- Figure 3: Selected travel behaviors of online adults in past 12 months
- Figure 4: Travel information seeking and booking behaviors of online adults in the past 12 months.
- Figure 5: Spend on personal travel online by online adults in the past 12 months
- Figure 6: Travel information seeking through use of selected meta-search services in past 12 months
- Figure 7: Travel booking on the Internet by selected suppliers in the past 12 months
- Figure 8: Importance of various sources for helping make personal travel decisions
- Figure 9: Importance of various selected sources in personal travel decision-making
- Figure 10: Importance for various functions, capabilities, and content in a ""travel 2.0"" site
- Figure 11: Importance of traveler generated content in a ""travel 2.0"" website
- Figure 12: Importance of professional generated content in a ""travel 2.0"" website
- Figure 13: Importance of accessing ""travel 2.0"" website content from cell and social networks
- Figure 14: Importance of selected tools found on the ""travel 2.0"" websites
- Figure 15: Web 2.0 usage by online traveler categories in the past three months
- Figure 16: Use of selected social networks in the past three months by online traveler category
- Figure 17: Age group by travel 2.0, non-travel 2.0 travelers, and overall US online adults
- Figure 18: Household size by travel 2.0, non-travel 2.0 travelers, and overall US online adults
- Figure 19: Household income by travel 2.0, non-travel 2.0 travelers, and overall US online adults
- Figure 20: Formal education levels by travel 2.0, non-travel 2.0 travelers, and overall US online adults
- Figure 21: Employment status by travel 2.0, non-travel 2.0 travelers, and overall US online adults
- Figure 22: Travel 2.0 category norms for site overall impression, reliability, amount and quality of content, clarity, professionalism, organization, look/feel, credibility, and relevance.
- Figure 23: Site specific ratings for Gusto
- Figure 24: Site specific ratings for HotelChatter
- Figure 25: Site specific ratings for IgoUgo
- Figure 26: Site specific ratings for RealTravel
- Figure 27: Site specific ratings for TripAdvisor
- Figure 28: Site specific ratings for TravelBuddy
- Figure 29: Site specific ratings for Travelpod
- Figure 30: Site specific ratings for TripWolf
- Figure 31: Site specific ratings for WAYN
- Figure 32: Site specific ratings for Wikitravel
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