Sales for Online Travel Top $1 Billion in January
The online travel industry hit $1.2 billion in sales in January and represents nearly a third of all e-commerce transactions, which were $3.8 billion, according to a report released yesterday by Nielsen//NetRatings.From January 2000 to January 2001, online shopping trips to the top five travel sites from work and home jumped 42 percent to 22 million visits.
The top site to visit was Travelocity, which held the largest share of online travel buyers at 18 percent. Southwest followed with 14 percent of all online travel buyers. Expedia's share was 11 percent followed by Priceline at 9 percent.
The January sale represents a 29 percent increase from six months ago when consumers spent $943 million on online travel, making it the highest level since monthly surveys began in April 2000.
Online travel sites stimulated another $681 million in offline revenue in January. These sales were generated by online operations, but bought via phone or fax or in-person.
