It seems 63pc of us think the days of paper airline tickets are numbered, while a significant 85pc are frustrated at the way taxes and airline charges are added on during an online booking rather than at the very beginning, according to a recent survey by online travel agents ebookers.ie.
These findings emerged from the Nationwide Travel Survey commissioned in late 2007 by ebookers.ie to find out how the Irish plan and book holidays online.
The survey highlighted what many of us like about the convenience of internet booking and also revealed that on average the Irish spend €4,200 every year on travel.
Some 91pc of those who took part in the survey said they liked the fact they could book their holiday online at any time and from anywhere.
The same percentage of people said they have used the internet to research a holiday in the past year, while 85pc like the process of planning and buying travel over the internet instead of in high-street travel agents.
Mark Henry of Tourism Ireland said, “No industry has been changed more fundamentally by the internet than travel and tourism. All our research shows the internet is now the No 1 source that overseas holidaymakers use to plan their holidays.
“As the body responsible for promoting Ireland overseas, Tourism Ireland continues to increase its investment in e-marketing to reflect this increased usage.”
This year Tourism Ireland plans to spend €10m, which represents a quarter of its entire marketing budget, on the online space.
Steven Rice, marketing manager for ebookers.ie, said, “Whilst the data has provided us with a huge amount of interesting findings, the strongest theme to emerge is how the internet is the clear channel of choice regarding the planning and buying of travel products and that Irish people have effectively become their own travel agents.”
By Marie Boran
