Trends in the US online travel market - 2000-2002
by Carl H. Marcussen, PhD, Senior Researcher,
Centre for Regional and Tourism Research, Denmark25 April 2003
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Summary
The overall US travel market decreased by 8% in 2001 and by 4% in 2002, but the online travel market increased by 45% from $18.6 billion in 2001 to $27.0 billion in 2002. Online sales accounted for 14.4% in 2002. The top 3 players accounted for 46%, 42% and 40% in 2000, 2001 and 2002. In 2002 Expedia overtook Travelocity. Southwest Airlines remained in the number three spot. Orbitz, now the third largest agent in the US online travel market, challenges Southwest’s position with respect to share of the US online travel market. There was a shift from direct suppliers to online agents. Agents accounted for 47% in 2000, 48% in 2001, then jumped to 54% in 2002. This shift (of 7 percentage points) was explained by the establishment of the online agent Orbitz by a number of major airlines, since Orbitz captured a share of 9% (from zero) during the period. While Orbitz won market share, the websites of the airlines themselves lost an almost corresponding number of percentage points from 2000 to 2002. - From 2000 to 2002 there was a shift of 7 percentage points from air-tickets to non-air (mostly hotels) in the US online travel market. Even so, in 2002 air-tickets accounted for 66% of the US online travel market, hotels 22%, car rental 9% and cruise and train (and bus services) 3%. .
______________________________________________________________________________Access to the full US study (28 slides) in pdf:
Trends in the US online travel market – 2000-2002
by Carl H. Marcussen, Centre for Regional and Tourism Research, CRT.dk
Date: 25 April 2003.
Parallel study:
Trends in European Internet Distribution - of Travel and Tourism Services
Key words: Accor; AirTran; Alamo; Alaska Airlines; America West Airlines; American Airlines; American Trans Air; Amtrak; Atlantic Coast Airlines; Avis; Best Western; Budget; Cendant; Cheaptickets; Choice; Continental Airlines; Delta Airlines; Dollar; Enterprise; ExpressJet; Expedia; Frontier Airlines; Greyhound; Hawaiian Airlines; Hertz; Hilton; Horizon Air; Hotels.com; Hotwire.com; JetBlue; Marriott; Mesa Airlines; Midwest Airlines; National; Northwest Airlines; Orbitz; Priceline; SkyWest; Southwest Airlines; Thrifty; Travelocity; United Airlines; US Airways.