PhoCusWright Sees Growth in European Online Travel Markets

19 January 2009 6:15pm

At the close of 2008, online leisure/unmanaged business travel bookings represented 29 percent of the 246 billion euro European travel industry, the world’s largest regional travel market, according to travel research firm PhoCusWright Inc.

Online travel bookings will grow significantly faster than total gross bookings, which are projected to increase by 3 percent. Unlike the United States, Europe will continue to see double-digit growth in online travel.

However, that rate is expected to slow as online travel reaches maturity in certain European markets. PhoCusWright delves into the European online leisure/unmanaged business travel market as a whole as well as via six individual key market reports.

Spain remains a fast-growing European online travel market as its rail and hotel segments continue to shift share from offline channels, according to PhoCusWright’s Spanish Online Travel Overview Fourth Edition. Online travel penetration in Spain is expected to grow from 17 percent in 2007 to 26 percent in 2010.

The Italian online travel market continues to grow faster than the European average. This market is expected to grow by at least 22 percent through 2010, surpassing the European average. France is the second-largest online travel market in Europe (behind the U.K.) with nearly one quarter of all travel booked online.

More than a fifth of all German travel is now booked online. This trend is expected to continue over the next several years as the German market begins to develop its full potential. Scandinavia is one of the most important travel markets in Europe –and one of the fastest-growing online travel markets.

With online bookings of 4.9 billion euros in 2007, Scandinavia is predicted to “cross the chasm” by 2010, making it the second European market to generate half its bookings online (after the U.K.).

Behind the strength of tour operators and LCCs, the U.K. online travel market continues to grow in double digits. The U.K. is the largest online travel market in Europe, more than twice the size of Germany and France, and represents more than a third of European Internet travel sales.