TIA Survey: Web Use Up

<B> TIA Survey: Web Use Up</B>

By Cheryl Rosen

A new study by the Travel Industry Association shows Internet usage in the travel planning process has grown more than five times over the past three years, with 69 percent of 1,200 frequent travelers who have Internet access using it to either research or make travel reservations. That's up from 51 percent last year and 14 percent in 1996.

But confirming the fact that travelers still use the Internet to look far more than they book, the TIA survey also found that only 22 percent of wired frequent travelers actually make their reservations online, and that number has grown much more slowly, from 14 percent in 1997.

As expected, the data also show that travelers under the age of 55 are seven times more likely to book travel online than those over the age of 55.

The study also indicated that most travelers planning or booking online are making airline reservations.

Eight percent of online travelers in the first half of 1999 booked airline tickets, compared with only 1.5 percent who made hotel reservations and 3 percent who booked rental cars.