Online Travel News

Where would you travel if you won the lottery?

2012-03-31T23:22:00.002+03:00

With today’s announcement that ticketholders in Kansas, Illinois and Maryland will share a record-breaking $640 million jackpot, several lucky buyers will spend the weekend dreaming about how to spend their windfalls – and I’d wager that travel will be part of the fantasy.

“Buy an island near Hawaii,” noted one Facebook wag when USA TODAY asked what readers would do with a winning ticket.
“Take a couple of years off of work and travel the world,” said another.
So, where would you head if you struck lottery gold?
You could always start small by spending 24 days and $68, 950 per person to fly around the world by private jet with Alex Trebek and National Geographic Expeditions, or join Ashton Kutcher and other astronauts-in-waiting who’ve committed $200,000 for a Virgin Galactic joyride in space.
Or, if James Cameron’s recent submarine explorations have whetted your appetite for deep-seas adventures, you could book a flight to the island of Roatan, Honduras – where, for a mere $5,600, you’ll be ferried 1,500 feet below the surface in search of six-gill sharks.
Other dream itineraries, if money were no object?
Read more

Travel Health: How to Fight 7 In-Flight Ailments

2012-03-30T17:38:00.000+03:00

With travel comes health risks, but you can take steps to stay healthy in transit

As you pack your bags, remove your shoes at security, and kill time at the gate, your health is likely the last thing on your mind. But the fact is that traveling, whether for work or play, can take its toll on your physical condition. Here are seven health problems you might encounter in transit along with tips for avoiding them.

Jet Lag

You're bound to experience sleep deprivation or fatigue while traveling, especially if you're swapping one time zone for another. Jet lag results when your internal clock is disrupted by irregular light schedules, making you feel wide awake when you should be asleep--and vice versa. Jet lag often results in sleep deprivation, symptoms of which generally include loss of concentration, decreased motivation, irritation, and reduced physical and mental capabilities. Depending on how many time zones you're crossing, jet lag can last for up to several days after your trip.

Airplane Ear

Most people experience middle-ear discomfort--aching and muffled hearing--while flying. This is caused when the cabin's air pressure gets thrown out of sync with the air pressure within your ears, preventing your eardrum from vibrating as it should. "Airplane ear" generally occurs during rapid changes in altitude, such as take-off and landing. In most cases, airplane ear is harmless and will go away once the pressure stabilizes, but occasionally, you can suffer vertigo (a spinning sensation), tinnitus (ringing in the ear), or even a ruptured eardrum.

How to fight it: Yawning, swallowing, chewing gum, or wearing filtered earplugs (designed to slowly equalize pressure in your ears during take-off and landing) are all ways to help your Eustachian tube--a small canal connecting your middle ear to the back of your nasal cavity--regulate the pressure within your ear. Avoiding caffeine and alcohol and drinking plenty of water will reduce the chances of eardrum rupture. Traveling while congested can worsen airplane ear, so try to avoid flying if you have a cold, sinus infection, or ear infection. If changing your plans isn't an option, you can lend your Eustachian tube a hand by taking decongestants about an hour before take-off.

Read more: http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-03-29/news/sns-201203291250usnewsusnwr201203280328health.travelmar29_1_eustachian-tube-middle-ear-jet-lag

ITA Acquisition Helps Google in Online Travel Search

2010-07-05T21:02:00.000+03:00

Google (NASDAQ:GOOG), which competes with Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), Yahoo (NASDAQ:YHOO) and AOL (NYSE:AOL) in the search advertising market, recently paid $700 million to acquire ITA Software, a flight information company. ITA provides travel-related data to other online travel sites like Expedia, Kayak and Travelport, along with search engines such as Microsoft’s Bing.

We believe this acquisition will help Google compete better against Bing in the travel search market. Our analysis follows below.

Google Dominates Search Advertising

We estimate that search advertising constitutes 67% of the $725 Trefis price estimate for Google’s stock. Google leads the search advertising market with a 65% share. We believe its share will increase to around 73% by the end of Trefis forecast period.

Users of online travel reservations in China cross six million-mark

2009-01-21T17:12:00.001+02:00

According to the latest data by iResearch, users of online travel reservations in China crossed six million, to an estimated RMB 2.8 billion in 2008. This represents a 22.7 percent growth compared to the previous year.

U.S. Online Travel Overview Eighth Edition Presents Sizing and Forecasts of the U.S. Total and Online Travel Markets

2008-12-07T08:53:00.001+02:00

U.S. leisure/unmanaged business travel bookings will reach nearly $100 billion in 2008, more than one-third of the total travel market, and a 9% increase over 2007.
Despite broad economic turmoil, softening consumer spending and declining travel demand, the U.S. online travel market is projected to grow far faster than the total travel market through 2010.
Suppler Web sites and online travel agencies are expected to hold a share equilibrium through 2010 at 61% and 39%, respectively, but this equilibrium remains uneasy: intense competition and powerful economic trends are driving turbulent dynamics in online air and hotel sales.
growth in overall ridership and online bookings.

Travel Ad Network Takes Over Top Spot in comScore's Travel Information Rankings

2008-11-11T11:31:00.001+02:00

Travel Ad Network (TAN), the leading vertical ad network in travel, is now the web's largest travel information source in total audience according to Sept 2008 comScore data. TAN's audience in the United States has grown to 10,769,000 and is up to 19,204,000 worldwide -- larger than Tripadvisor, Yahoo Travel, or AOL Travel.

Travel information, a specialty of TAN's more than 300 portfolio sites, is the only travel online category to show y/y growth in the 3rd quarter ending August 2008 according to comScore. Overall traffic in the travel category was down -4% with OTAs (online travel agencies) taking the biggest hit at -14% in the same time period. Speaking of OTA's, TAN also passed Travelocity in audience becoming the first non-OTA to break into the Top 3 in the overall Travel category.

"No one on the planet reaches more travelers with online advertising than we do, now that we have 19.2 million monthly unique worldwide," says Cree Lawson, Founder & CEO of Travel Ad Network. "Furthermore, Travel Ad Network audiences do not overlap with those of its top 10 competitors. Some 95% of its global reach is exclusive to TAN as is 93% in the U.S."

Online travel expert's capital investment

2008-09-05T19:42:00.000+03:00

SALFORD-based accommodation website LateRooms.com has bought a London hotel booking specialist. LateRooms.com, which is led by Chris Allen and owned by First Choice parent TUI, has swooped for Hotels-London.co.uk for an undisclosed sum.

Hotels-London, which was established in 1998 by Harrison Brown, will continue trading under its current name and will be managed as a separate business.

LateRooms.com's James Pogson will lead the business. He said: "We offer a vast range of accommodation to suit our customers' needs, so this partnership will further enhance our presence and expand our product offering."

Online air travel sales up 44 per cent

2008-08-15T21:37:00.000+03:00

Revenues and profits from China's online travel business rose strongly in the second quarter of the year, the country's largest online travel agent reported. Ctrip.com saw quarterly revenue rise by 30 per cent to $55m, compared to the same period one year earlier. Net profits were up 34 per cent over the same period, reaching $17m.

The company's positive results were driven by a surge in online sales of air tickets. Ticketing revenues rose 44 per cent to $25m. China's increasingly affluent population is using air travel more for business trips, vacations and family visits. In addition, China has recently phased out paper tickets in favour of e-tickets, allowing ticket sales to be transacted completely online.

Apart from air ticket sales, Ctrip's other main revenue generator is its hotel bookings business, which increased 14 per cent over the year to $29m.

"Although the travel industry in China

Online travel slumps after analyst lowers price targets, automakers plunge

2008-07-04T21:41:00.000+03:00

NEW YORK (Associated Press) - Among the sector activity stories for Monday, June 30, from AP Financial News:

NEW YORK (AP) _ Most online travel stocks fell Monday after an analyst lowered his price targets for Expedia Inc., Orbitz Worldwide Inc. and Priceline.com Inc., citing weakening European leisure travel trends and rising search ad competition.

NEW YORK (AP) _ Shares of many auto suppliers tumbled Monday, as both General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co. both hit historical lows a day before the release of what's expected to be weak June sales figures

Thieves Target Online Travel Sites

2008-06-11T11:46:00.000+03:00

Online travel sites and airplane parts manufacturers are among the biggest victims of cybersquatting, false association, pay-per-click abuse and domain kiting, according to a new report from security vendor MarkMonitor.

The vendor points to the increased risk in those business sectors in its newly released Brandjacking Index for the spring. The findings reflect a trend observed by other security experts who have found, among other things, that the bad guys are using search-engine optimization (SEO) tricks to get their bogus sites higher in the search rankings.

Trends noted in the report included:

The rise of online auctions for fraudulent travel vouchers. The average discount for the more than 150 listings analyzed was 80 percent under face value. With the recent airline industry bankruptcies, increased cases of online fraud related to refunds, credits and vouchers are likely.

The growing success of search engine optimization tactics. Through higher search rankings, scammers divert Internet users searching for legitimate travel brands to illicit sites with questionable content, including pornography.

Blended abuses targeting travel brands. Attackers have combined multiple techniques such as spam, pay-per-click fraud and malware to put shoppers' computers as risk for viruses and spyware.

ADP to launch online travel agency

2008-05-20T23:52:00.001+03:00

French airport operator ADP is to launch an online travel agency in September or early October, Le Parisien reported in its Sunday edition.

According to the daily, which cited unnamed sources, the service will be called adp-voyages.com and will be run by a new, wholly owned subsidiary of ADP.

The company will be able to go ahead with the launch after it was accorded a travel agency licence at the end of March, the newspaper said.

The company has offered travel reservations on its main website since December 2006 in partnership with travel group Expedia (nasdaq: EXPE - news - people ) and is 'very satisfied with the number of reservations' generated, according to an internal source

EU slams travel websites

2008-05-10T23:47:00.000+03:00

Websites selling airline tickets are ripping off nearly a third of their customers, according to the EU.

A report into the online travel industry found that 80 online retailers that had been told to improve their websites back in November had not yet brought their offerings up to scratch.

The EU said that many of the sites were still applying hidden charges, pricing tickets unfairly and not translating terms and conditions.

"It is unacceptable that one in three consumers booking a plane ticket online is being ripped off or misled and confused," EU Commissioner Meglena Kuneva said.

However, there was no prospect of immediate action being taken against the websites, because the EU has given them nearly a year to "get their house in order".

"We will need to see credible evidence of improvement to clean up these sales and marketing practices within the airline sector by 1 May next year or we will be left with no choice but to intervene," Kuneva said.

Microsoft acquires Farecast

2008-04-18T18:59:00.000+03:00

"Farecast has been a partner of ours on MSN Travel and we look forward to working closely with the Farecast team to incorporate and apply its technology in new and interesting ways," the statement said.

In a short blog post, Farecast Chief Executive Hugh Crean said, "This acquisition creates tremendous opportunities for the Farecast team and our customers." He declined further comment, as did Microsoft.

The P-I reported earlier this week that Farecast had been sold for more than $75 million, but the buyer was not known at the time. Microsoft did not confirm the purchase price, but a source familiar with the deal put the price tag at $115 million.

On the face of it, the acquisition seems unusual, particularly considering the relatively high reported purchase price, said Matt Rosoff, an analyst at Kirkland-based Directions on Microsoft. "Maybe there's some really interesting technology there, with price prediction, that they think they could apply to other types of businesses," he speculated.

Farecast is an online travel search engine that attempts to predict whether airfares will rise or fall on domestic and international routes. For example, Farecast recommended Thursday that travelers purchase now a Seattle to Cleveland flight for early July because prices will be rising over the next week. It offers a confidence level of 71 percent on that prediction.

Vote on our online travel poll

2008-04-07T20:47:00.000+03:00

Last week we asked our readers: Do you support a boycott of the Beijing Summer Olympics because of recent events between Tibet and People's Republic of China? Here are the results:

- 44.83 per cent said Yes. I think it's a tragic turn of events.

- 44.83 per cent said No. I think it would only punish the athletes

- 10.3 per cent: I'm not sure

To vote in our travel poll, log onto Calgaryherald.com and click on the "travel" link on the left-hand side of the page.

Agencies Still Beat Airline, Travel Retail Web Site Prices

2008-03-25T11:05:00.001+02:00

average $56 less than identical itineraries directly booked through airline Web sites or through online travel retailers like Expedia, Orbitz and Travelocity, according to Topaz International research released last week.

Topaz said travel agency fares were less costly on nearly 95 percent of itineraries compared with the same itinerary available online to the public. However, Topaz said its research shows the savings gap has closed steadily since it initiated the research in 2001, when the chasm between online public fares and agency fares averaged $171. Though the $56 differential recorded in 2007 matches the lowest gap in 2005, corporate travel agencies have grown slightly in lower-fare reliability: Topaz said agency fares in 2001 were cheaper just over 93 percent of the time, a figure that since grew steadily to last year's 94.85 percent.

Online travel companies and time shares lobby for tax shields

2008-03-18T21:36:00.000+02:00

Prodded by lobbyists for online travel companies and time shares, state lawmakers are quietly crafting a package that could ultimately shield those industries from millions of dollars in taxes every year.

The package taking shape in the state Capitol, yet to be presented in public, could effectively short-circuit a protracted court battle between Orange County and Internet giants Expedia Inc. and Orbitz Worldwide Inc. over whether the companies are skipping out on sales and hotel taxes. A number of other Florida counties have sued on similar grounds.

The package would also provide a tax shield for time-share exchanges, such as occur when one time-share owner trades a week at his or her Lake Tahoe resort for a week at an Orlando resort.

Expedia and the American Resort Development Association, a time-share industry group, are among those most closely involved in writing the legislation.

Launch of Online Travel Summit

2008-03-11T17:49:00.000+02:00

Travelwires, in association with FutureBlue, will be holding the first Online Travel Summit in Cape Town, 8 April 2008.

The summit is aimed at all players in the travel sector and will include sessions on search engine optimisation (SEO), PPC, email marketing and online brand building from leading experts.

Enthuses Travelwires founder Muzi Mohale, "This is an exciting step for Travelwires and a great opportunity for the industry to come together and get to grips with the major trends affecting them. We have been able to assemble a great speaker line up and feel that this gives coverage to all the key areas affecting our industry."

The event has been put together with strategic web management company FutureBlue, and MD Paul Hobden believes the event will be the first of many to come.

A new online flight booking concierge

2008-03-04T12:19:00.000+02:00

I got to take a preview tour of InsideTrip.com, a new travel flight aggregator that launches Tuesday and is bound to inspire other travel search engines to question whether their service is consumer-friendly enough.

You can ask yourself now, when you book your flight online, are price and schedule the only things that matter — or would you also like to compare legroom, the age of the plane, on-time performance and find out about the airline’s lost-luggage track record too?

These are just some of the 12 additional types of information that can be screened when you search for your flight on InsideTrip.com. The full list of information you can get is broken down into three categories, comfort (legroom, aircraft type, aircraft age, historical plane passenger loads), speed factors (number of stops, flight duration, on-time performance, security wait time) and ease factors (connecting time, routing quality, lost-luggage track record and airport gate location).

Travelocity will provide online travel booking

2008-02-28T11:26:00.001+02:00

Online travel provider Travelocity has signed on to work on the United States’ first official tourism Web site, set to launch in March.

The firm is partnering with the D.C.-based Travel Industry Association, which has been working on the site since 2006.

The project is being co-funded by TIA and the U.S. Department of Commerce, which devoted $3.9 million to the endeavor; TIA is matching about 40 percent, according to Adam Vance, who’s leading the project for TIA.

Huge increase in European online travel sales

2008-02-23T00:44:00.001+02:00

European online travel bookings in 2007 took a bigger share of an increasing market, according to the latest annual study from a Scandinavian research centre.

Denmark's Center For Regional & Tourism Research has found that in 2007, European online travel sales increased by 24% to £37.2 billion, accounting for 19.4% of the market. Last year online was worth £29.9 billion, or 16% of the market.

The growth is set to continue, with CRT tipping 2008's total to come in at £44 billion, or 22.5% of the overall market. 2009 could see online take over a quarter of the market with sales of £52.7 billion.

CRT has produced the study annually with stats going back to 1998. While the volume of online sales has increased regularly over the past decade, the growth in percentage terms has slowed. 2007's 26% increase in sales compares with a year-on-year lift between 05 and 06 of 31%.

Travel Sites Target International Customers

2008-02-18T11:45:00.000+02:00

"The Asia-Pacific market is the biggest market that we're looking at," said Expedia CEO Dara Khosrowshahi. China and India are the most tempting geographic targets, he said.

Expedia's Asia-Pacific division oversees the company's expansion in Asia. Expedia, the largest OTA, has a majority stake in eLong, which provides online travel services in China.

Expedia saw 34 percent of its fourth-quarter bookings from international points of sale.

Launch of The World's Largest Online Travel Resource!

2008-02-17T13:28:00.000+02:00

Not owned or operated by any one travel entity or segment, with no online booking engines to distract from the business of providing unbiased information, TripAtlas.com contains almost 7 million pages of relevant travel information and services to entertain and entice would-be travelers from around the world! This popular growing website now attracts over one million visitors - close to 100,000 monthly - who search for global travel information, history, attractions, deals, news articles, photos & videos, guides, and anything travel - all available literally at their fingertips!