• by Wendy Davis  @wendyndavis, June 7, 2006

Almost 150 million consumers visited a travel Web site last year--marking a 35 percent surge from 2004, according to a report released Tuesday by comScore.

The research company also found that annual online travel revenues amounted to $60 billion last year, marking a 20 percent increase from 2004. Those numbers are more conservative than figures released Tuesday by research firm eMarketer, which estimated that online travel revenues totaled $64.9 billion last year--which it pegged as a 28 percent increase over 2004. (For this year, eMarketer predicted revenues would grow by 20 percent to $77.7 billion.)

comScore, like eMarketer, reported that more travel is being purchased from online suppliers than agencies. Last year, supplier sites garnered 58 percent of ticket sales, while hotels accounted for 59 percent, according to comScore.

For the report, comScore analyzed data from its panel of more than 2 million consumers, and also surveyed 1,500 users.

Survey respondents reported visiting an average of three sites when planning a vacation, mainly to search for the lowest price. Almost half the respondents--46 percent--reported starting their research at one of the three leading online agencies--Expedia, Travelocity, or Orbitz. Just one in four--24 percent--started at an airline, hotel, or car rental site.