For the full 2012 year, U.S. travel e-commerce sales reached $103 billion, an increase of 9 percent versus the prior year.
Air
Travel accounted for nearly two-thirds of all travel spending while
growing 10 percent vs. year ago according to comScore, Inc., a leader
in measuring the digital world.
"Travel
is a leading online commerce category, and despite being a pioneer in
the sector 15 years ago it is still growing at nearly double-digit
growth rates and remains very competitive," said John Mangano,
VP of comScore Marketing Solutions for Retail and Travel. "With
the online channel driving such a high percentage of dollars within
the broader travel industry, understanding the competitive landscape
is essential to determining the most effective sales
and marketing strategies."
Top
Airline Sites in 2012
Once
again, Southwest Airlines
led all
airline sites in 2012 with 20 percent of
category page views, up slightly from the prior year. Delta
Airlines ranked second at 15.5 percent of
page views, followed by United Airlines at 14.7 percent (up 4.9
percentage points), American
Airlines at 13.2 percent and US Airways at
3.4 percent.
Expedia
Inc. (which includes Hotwire) ranked as the top property in the
Online Travel Agents category with 31.6 percent of all category page
views, followed by Priceline.com Inc. (17.3 percent) and Orbitz
Worldwide (12.9 percent). Fareportal Media Group, which includes
CheapoAir, ranked fourth at 9.2 percent, while Travelocity rounded
out the top five at 7.6 percent. Recent 2012 IPO Kayak.com was one of
the biggest share gainers in the category, jumping 2.2 percentage
points to 6.9 percent share of all page views.
Top
Hotel & Resort Sites in 2012
Marriott
led the Hotels & Resorts category in 2012 with 11.7 percent of
all category page views, roughly on par with its share in 2011.
InterContinental Hotels Group ranked second with 7.9 percent share
(up 3.5 points), followed by Wyndham Worldwide at 7.5 percent. Hilton
Hotels (7.0 percent) and VRBO.com (6.5
percent) rounded out the top five.
"Interestingly,
not all sites are equally effective in turning page views into
transactions," added Mangano. "In some instances we see
that sites require greater engagement to get to a booking, while
others serve more as a venue for comparison pricing but lose out on
the sale as their visitors go to other sites to book. So while
winning the traffic battle is an important part of customer
acquisition, travel companies who optimize their strategies at other
phases of the funnel are the ones who ultimately drive the greatest
conversion."
2012
Travel Spending by Sub-Category
Full
Year 2012 vs. Full Year 2011
Total
U.S. – Home & Work Computers
Source:
comScore E-Commerce Measurement
|
|||
|
Spending
($
Millions)
|
Share of
Travel
Spending
|
Y/Y
% Chg
|
Total
Travel E-Commerce
|
$102,951
|
100%
|
9%
|
Air
Travel
|
$66,529
|
65%
|
10%
|
Hotel
Reservations
|
$19,384
|
19%
|
7%
|
$9,698
|
9%
|
6%
|
|
Travel
Packages
|
$5,140
|
5%
|
10%
|
Other
Travel
|
$2,200
|
2%
|
10%
|