• by Masha Geller , May 30, 2001

As summer approaches, almost everyone is either planning a vacation or talking about planning one. In between lies a very attractive target audience for many advertisers, so where do you suppose is a good place to grab their attention? All studies point to the web, of course, not that we're surprised. Another report out today, found that over 37 million Internet users purchased travel online.

"With the summer travel season beginning, our @plan data shows that there is a large online component to travel planning across all ages," said Doug Knopper, VP and GM for DoubleClick's Diameter division, which produced the @plan Summer 2001 Report. "Whether planning or purchasing, Internet users who travel are making the Internet an essential part of their summer vacation plans."

According to @plan's Summer 2001 Report, when asked which types of websites, if any, the participants had visited for shopping or purchasing of vacation packages, 32% of 25-34 year-olds went online to purchase within the online travel category. A quarter of 55 year-olds (25%) and one of every five 18-24 year-olds (20%) also turned to the web.

What's interesting about this is that generations Y and X, baby boomers and the mature generation enjoy their vacations in different ways. According to the @plan data, when asked what type of vacations they had taken in the last two years, a surprising 13.3% of matures stated that they favor casino gambling vacations compared to other age groups such as 35-44 year-olds, who prefer theme parks (25%), 18-24 year-olds who favor outfitter vacations (9.2%) and 25-34 year-olds who enjoyed all-inclusive resort vacations (7.5%).

Notably, the @plan data also highlights that the more than 56 million online reward program members purchased or reserved travel online 54% more than the average Internet user.