Top 5 European Travel Sites and the Long Tail After a quick look into the online travel industry and a quick summary of the German online travel market I'm looking at the European travel market. Europe has a total of 219 mio. European people online >= 15 years, a global broadband market share of ~31% (Eastern and Western Europe, PointTopic 2006) and a broadband penetration rate of ~14% (ECTA, broadband connections/population in Q10/06).

According to ComScore European travel sites experienced 108 mio. visitors in March 2007, a traffic plus of 6% compared to March 2006 spending 37 minutes browsing travel-related content online, where online travel agencies got 19 minutes on average, followed by airline sites (17 minutes) and hotel sites (15 minutes).

'Expedia Inc. led the European travel category with 18.5 million European unique visitors aged 15 and older during March. The second most-visited European travel site was ViaMichelin, with 13.5 million European unique visitors, followed by the TUI Group’s 12.5 million European unique visitors, then Lastminute.com sites with 9.8 million European unique visitors and Priceline.com Incorporated with 8.9 million European unique visitors.'

The main revenue still comes from commissions, but advertising generates a significant revenue stream, too. The European online travel market is predicted to experience a further double-digit growth during the coming years.

On a European level the UK represents a European market share of 32%, followed by France 23%, then Germany with 20%, Scandinavia with 10% and Spain with 5% in online leisure travel sales according to eMarketer. European online leisure/unmanaged business travel as a percentage of the total travel market will approach 25% in 2007 according to PhoCusWright.

'Planning and purchasing behavior is undergoing significant change, evidenced by travelers who are now taking control and finding/creating the perfect trip, not just the cheapest trip. Customers communicating with customers has triggered an unprecedented social networking phenomenon and a resurgence in the Long Tail economy.'

• eCommerce Fueled by Fast Broadband

Labels: ecommerce, europe, markets

  ¶ 'Top 5 European Travel Sites and the Long Tail' posted by eA : 3:25 PM