• by Shankar Gupta , February 21, 2007

Two-thirds of Web users who plan to travel in the next three months will do their travel research and buy tickets or book hotels online, according to a new study by Burst Media.

For the report, Burst surveyed around 2,100 adult Web users who were planning to travel in the next three months. Almost half (47.2%) said the Internet will be their primary travel resource, while two-thirds (66.9%) said they would research and make a travel-related transaction online. Of those who said they would make a travel transaction online, 74% said they would buy airline tickets, 72.9% said they would make hotel reservations, and 40.4% said they would rent a car.

Consumers who used the Internet to research and make travel arrangements skewed toward higher incomes. Sixty-three percent of respondents who reported household incomes of over $100,000 said the Internet would be their primary travel resource, and 51.8% of those reporting household incomes of between $75,000 and $99,000 said the Web would be their primary resource.

Respondents most valued the ability to check the availability and rates of hotels, flights and rental cars on a travel site. Fifty-five percent of users said that feature would convince them to return to a travel site, 49.9% wanted destination information, and 49.7% were looking for promotions and special deals.