• by Gavin O'Malley , October 7, 2005

Almost one in three of the 35 million U.S. consumers who conducted travel-related searches in April bought a travel service on- or off-line within eight weeks of their initial search, according to a new study by Yahoo! Search Marketing, comScore Networks, and media shop Media Contacts.

The report is based on a survey fielded to over 500 consumers searching for travel-related information. Researchers examined the search, visiting, and buying behavior of those consumers over a period of eight weeks following the initiation of travel research in April 2005. While the majority of those who made a purchase--80 percent--did so online, a full one in five completed travel purchases off-line. What's more, many purchases--online and offline--occurred after the search session had ended.

Those findings highlight the influence of online research across all buying channels, according to James Lamberti, vice president of comScore search marketing solutions. "The latent and multi-channel effects of search are particularly noteworthy," Lamberti said.

Consumers using the Web to research travel tended to submit multiple queries and click on multiple links per query. Those who ultimately purchased travel submitted an average of 5.4 travel-related searches over the study period, and clicked on an average of 7.8 links within search results. Consumers who didn't buy online made just 3.4 travel-related searches and clicked on 5.2 links within the results.

Just over half of the respondents--56 percent--said Web search helped them discover a new site, and 27 percent said search led them to a new brand. Bradley King, travel category director for Yahoo! Search Marketing, said the results support the idea that search marketing goes way beyond direct response.

"This study shows what search can do for brand awareness," said King. "What marketers are beginning to realize is that consumers value Web search not only for gathering information, but also for discovering new services and brands."

A total of 82 percent of respondents said they were satisfied or very satisfied with their use of Web search for travel. In addition, 83 percent of Internet travel planners in the study said they intended to use Web search for future travel planning.