Online Travel

First Published: August 1999
Last Update: April 2002
Author: Computer Partners

Okay, so you can't actually travel online but you certainly can save time and money when planning your next trip. Whether you are looking to order airline tickets, book a hotel or rent a car there is a vast selection of online businesses available to save you time and money.

In 1998, online travel sales for the year 2000 were projected to reach $4.7 billion. Due to incredible growth, sales actually surpassed that estimate in 1999 and will probably more than triple it by the end of 2000. Sales are predicted to reach an estimated value of $25.2 billion by 2003. This level of growth will place it ahead of other popular e-retail industries like computer hardware and software. In response to this demand a highly competitive travel market is emerging online in a variety of formats.

The majority of online purchases have been airline tickets. And you can expect most major airlines will offer online services. Just a few are Air Canada, United Airlines and American Airlines. Hotel and Car Rental chains, for example Best Western and Hertz, are also well represented.  But now instead of dealing directly with just one source, you can choose between a flurry of new "dot com" travel businesses. Hotel Insider is a full service site for discounted online Hotel Reservations. They don't own a single hotel and the business didn't exist 5 years ago but thousands of people researched and booked hotel rooms through them last year. There are many other services like theirs. Perhaps the one with greatest name recognition is Priceline. They  provide hotel, car rental, airfare and many other service discounts.