Thirty-one percent of all the trips purchased in Spain to date this year were online transactions, a trend that will increase according to the experts, converting the Web in the most popular distribution channel by 2010.
In the words of Javier Gonzalez-Soria, director of Google Spain’s travel division, in the States online sales are currently higher than agency sales, a trend that is repeated to a lesser degree in the United Kingdom, where approximately 40% of all trips are purchased online.
Gonzalez-Soria stressed the giant impact of the Internet, which has changed radically travel consumer behaviour, since the majority of top tourist industry players in Spain and the rest of the world have taken advantage of the opportunities that the Web offers them.
He also singled out the enormous impact of online advertising and promotions on the tourist industry as a whole, emphasising that the Internet is the starting point for trip planning on many occasions.
According to his calculations, 85% of all the trips made in Spain stem from online research. Although sometimes the opposite can be said: travellers see a destination advertised through another non-interactive channel – for instance, on TV or in the press – and then use Internet to find specific information.
Another of the advantages of the Internet for promoting tourism is the cost of advertising, since it is five to ten times cheaper than conventional channels.
Nevertheless, Gonzalez-Soria admits that, in spite of the advantages offered by the Web, many travellers still prefer to use a travel agency for complex trips, such as cruises or tours to exotic destinations like Asia or Africa.
According to the results of the last study conducted by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), online advertising spend in Spain last year totalled 482.42 million euros, up 6.04% on figures for 2006, the country ranking fourth with regard to online advertising spend, behind the States, United Kingdom and France.
