Online Travel Statistics

The Travel Industry Association of America (TIA) released their annual Travelers’ Use of the Internet study in December 2003. The study shows an increase in the number of people using the internet to research and book travel.



TIA found that 30% of the adult U.S. population (63.8 million) consult the web for travel information. These travelers spend (on average) $300 more on travel, and nearly 40% had an annual household income above $75,000.




Online travelers surf to two or more travel websites, spending an average of 37 minutes. They research and compare prices, check schedules and book trips. The number of people actually booking online increased by 8% over 2002 and grew to 42.2 million people in 2003. Within this group of online travelers, 32 million people made travel arrangements exclusively through the internet (a figure expected to grow according to the TIA).



10 million travelers responded to email campaigns, causing the TIA to believe that email campaigns are stimulating unplanned travel.

TIA stated that the top 10 travel websites are:

• Expedia
• Travelocity
• Orbitz
• Yahoo Travel
• Cheap Tickets
• Hot Wire
• VIPfares
• Priceline.com
• ITN.net
• TravelNow.com

If your business supplies lodging, real estate, shopping, recreation, dining, events or tourist related specialty services, it may be wise to place advertisements with these websites. If you are not making full use of the internet for your marketing campaigns you are missing 30% of your potential market.




As online travelers’ habits become more sophisticated you will find them expecting to find and book everything from one location.

International Adventure Travel Ideas

International adventure travel: Safaris, balloon tours, swimming with dolphins, bicycling down volcanos, trekking in the Himalayas, Walmart on Christmas Eve - the list is almost endless. This will not be a comprehensive listing of all the adventure opportunities out there. Instead, here is just enough to whet your appetite.

My Own International Adventure Travel

Long before hitchhiking across the country at sixteen-years-old, I had a taste for adventure. At fourteen, a friend and I bicycled 300 miles in a few days during one summer. At seventeen, I went international with my adventuring, hitchhiking from Michigan to half-way across Mexico. Over forty now, I no longer put out my thumb - not very often, anyhow - but I still love to travel.

More recently, my international adventure travel took me to Ecuador. While there I climbed to the furthest point from the center of the Earth. Everest is highest above sea level, but due to the Earth's bulge at the equator, the peak of Mount Chimborazo, at 20,600 feet, is farther from from the center of our planet. The top is all snow, ice, and glaciers.


My guide didn't speak English, and thought I was a mountaineer. I had once used an ice axe and crampons to go forty feet up a sledding hill, in Michigan. The rest of the story is on the website, but you can get information and a guide by talking to almost any hotel manager in Riobamba, Ecuador.

Go On A Jungle Book Safari

In southern Nepal, In the Royal Chitwan National Park, you can see tigers, leopards, rhinos, and sloth-bears. And where better to see them from than the back of a large elephant? The tours are lead by naturalists and park rangers. Stay in the comfortable Safari Lodge and take daily tours into the jungle.

Take A Mongolian Horseback Trek

Travel with one of the great nomadic and horse-based cultures of the world. The trips take you beyond tourist routes, and you can customize your trek to fit your schedule and budget. These tours are run from an office in Mongolia, and they provides experienced guides that are multi-lingual.

Go Rock Climbing In Rio

Want an outdoor adventure and city nightlife? Try a rock climbing tour in the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. You'll find routes for all skill levels in the Sugar Loaf, Urca, Corcovado and Pedra da Gavea mountains. Tours include bilingual instructors, equipment rentals, and transportation, and start at under $100 per person.

Swim With Dolphins In The Croatian Sea

Escape from the cold this winter, to the Cres-Lošinj group of islands, which is known for it's mild climate. Mali Lošinj on the island of Lošinj is known for its health resort, but recently, the area is becoming famous for the bottle-nosed dolphins that have made their homes in the clear and clean waters of the Cres-Lošinj group of islands. Mingle with them by boat or in your swimsuit.


Climb Mount Kinabalu

Mt. Kinabalu (4101m) is the king of the Borneo sub-continent. It rises 3000 feet higher than other mountains in the area; far above the jungle. It attracts international climbers of all skill levels, who scramble, climb and trek in its unique jungle-alpine enviroment. Kinabalu is in a world heritage site that boasts a wide variety of plants and animals. Experienced guides will take you trekking, or take you to the top.


About the Author
Travel Tips @ Buyme.co.in

Gullible's Travels

A journey by a web-footed gull through a sea of sharks.

Definitions:

Gull - a dupe, a fool; vulnerable to deceive; to trick; to defraud.

Shark - voracious marine fish; swindler; rapacious fellow; an expert. Shark-skin - stiff, smooth-finished!

As a gull with newly acquired webbed feet, I set out to test them on new waters. My new webbed feet allowed me to surf on waves I had never seen before, soaring high with excitement and sometimes being overwhelmed by the shear size of the waves. The waters I am discovering are vast and diverse, stretching out in all directions, some hot, some cold and some luke warm.


Diverse are also the fish in these waters. Some small and tasty but not big enough to satisfy my hunger. Others are big and juicy offering more than enough to feed on, but rather difficult to get my teeth into. This needs perseverance and a tough stance, refusing to let go. The longer I hold on the more I can bite off, and eventually the easier it will be to share with others and help them get their teeth into this big fish.

There are however, I am discovering, dangers in these waters. Surfing the seas with webbed feet attracts some other fish who are hungry to dig their greedy teeth into my flesh, and eat up everything I have. These are sharks! Stiff, smooth looking creatures, who lurk in the waves, just below the surface, out of clear view, just visible enough to be mistaken for a big meaty fish ready for feasting on.

But watch out! You other young gulls with your new webbed feet. These sharks are out to get you! They will lure you into a corner and snap at you grabbing all they can get, and leave you squirming in the foam helpless and lost and robbed!

The sharks will use any means possible to draw you towards them. Some wave fancy banners, rather similar to those banners pointing to where the good etable fish are. Still other sharks will attract you with dummy fish, which look like the real thing. But beware! Such fish are never so easy to catch and these false offers are just too easy to be true. They are traps. Try to grab one and the shark will have you.

Yes! The World Wide Web of Surfing is a dangerous place. It is an INTERwoven NETwork of goodies and dangers. I have learned to be cautious while SURFing these waters, not to be so gullible, and watch out for the many SHARKS.

Here are a few tips for young gulls.

1. Test the waters before you plunge in.

2. Never believe what you are told without first checking it out.

3. Ask some of the bigger gulls, who have evolved with experience to become dolphins. They will tell you who are the sharks to avoid.

4. A sure sign of a shark: “Come to me and I will give you plenty - immediately!” Stay clear of such ones.

5. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.