Nearly half (49%) of the 16.5 million Hispanic online audience has consumed content within the travel category during June 2007, outpacing that of the General Market (45.3%). 1 This brief analysis will detail the latest trends in the travel industry overall, with a focus on the travel shopping behavior of US Hispanics, plus which sites are best serving the market.

US Hispanics skew young both online and offline. Travel visitors are no exception. As evident in the chart below, of travel category visitors, the 18-24 year old (14.1% USH versus 11.5% GM, respectively) and 25-34 year old age groups (20.1% USH versus 17.9% GM, respectively) have a greater representation of US Hispanics online than General Market. Gender-wise, USH travel category visitors skew slightly more female at 53.1% female versus 46.9% male. 2

Chart 1:

One implication for travel website developers is to consider using both creative executions and messaging that resonates with a young, on-the-go consumer, as this generation is the majority of the USH travel category audience.

As 73% of USH adults age 18+ are foreign born 3, it’s no surprise that US Hispanics travel internationally at a much higher rate than their non-Hispanic counterparts. While 17.7% of GM have taken a personal international trip within the past 3 years, 25.5% of USH have done so. 4 Accordingly, Hispanics turn online for their travel searches and shopping: 49.7% of Hispanics have performed the action ‘Airline Tickets/Reservations (personal/searched for info/last 6 mo)’ versus 39.3% of GM. 5 Domestic travel is popular among Hispanics as well, as 59.9% have taken trips within the contiguous 48 states within the last 12 months.

Additionally, Synovate reports that 61% of Hispanics claim ‘I enjoy traveling to my country of heritage’ versus 33% for GM. 6

Visiting family is a primary reason for Hispanics to travel, as familial ties are close and maintaining them is a priority in Hispanic culture. To help in understanding these travel characteristic variances among USH and GM, Dr. Thomas F. Cannon, Director, Tourism Management Program, College of Business, University of Texas at San Antonio explains for Smart Marketer readers,

“…you only need to appreciate the Hispanic culture and the proximity to their native land. The umbilical cord in the Hispanic family is never cut. La familia is everything. Travel from the United States to Mexico and the rest of Latin America is relatively inexpensive . Now let's compare travel of the General Market. There is little incentive to travel to their country of heritage. There is not the magnet of the family calling them home. Why? Because they are already home, unlike many Hispanics who left family to come to the United States .”

The US online travel market has taken off in recent years. US online travel revenues were $85 billion in 2006, projected to be $128 billion by 2011. 7 This substantial growth in revenue is fueled by dramatic increases in adoption of Internet travel-related ecommerce tools and sites.

Chart 2:

As indicated in Chart #2 above, 66% of US leisure travelers have planned a vacation online and 57% have made reservations online in 2007, up considerably from 2000.

Combining the strength of the travel industry overall plus adoption of oline travel related activities, yields impressive revenue from the online travel category which represents one third of overall travel revenue. According to Forrester Research, 29% of overall travel spending is spent online. 8

As 6,197,000 unique visitors, or 37.5%, of Hispanics online have visited content within the Travel-Transactions category during June 2007, these 15 top properties are poised to reap the benefits.

Chart 3:

Top 15 Properties among US Hispanic Audience, Travel-Transactions Category

June 2007

Source: comScore Media Metrix

This ranker in Chart #3 is interesting because it spans several different travel and hospitality types of sites, from online travel booking engines, such as Travelocity, to airline sites, such as American Airlines (AA.com), and hotel properties such as Marriott (Marriot.com).

Due to the demand by our US Hispanic audience for deeper, more relevant travel content and tools, Terra has re-launched our travel vertical, available at http://www.terra.com/travel/. The enhanced site has several features which best serve the US Hispanic market, including a booking engine, powered by Travelocity, deep destination content, powered by Fodors, interactive maps, weather, currency exchange calculator, 360 degree virtual tours of over 300 hotels and resorts and much more. The redesigned site is available in both English and Spanish and includes a strong offering of communities, so that users can generate their own content and share travel recommendations and shared stories from the road. More information can be found in the press release: http://www.terra.com/terrainthenews/pdf/travel_channel_final.pdf

Be a Smart Marketer. US Hispanics are a key demographic for travel marketers, because of their high propensity for travel, their international family ties, and their inclination to take family vacations. But most importantly, US Hispanics are increasingly using the Internet to meet their travel research and purchasing needs. Reach out to this valuable consumer segment and prepare for take off!

Terra Networks wishes everyone a happy and safe summer travel season.

1. comScore Media Metrix, Key Measures Report, US Hispanic and General Market Services, June 2007. Analysis performed by Terra Networks.

2. Same as Source #3.

3. Synovate. US Diversity Markets Report 2006. p. 40

4. comScore Media Metrix. Plan Metrix. Age 18+. Hispanic defined as Yes to Hispanic/Spanish origin or descent. English Speaking. Winter 2007.

5. Same as Source #5.

6. Synovate. US Diversity Markets Report 2006. p. 180

7. eMarketer. US Online Travel Revenues, 2006 and 2011. Jupiter Research 2006. Note: Includes business and leisure travel.

8. eMarketer. Online Revenues for Select Retail Categories in the US, 2007. Forrester Research as cited in the New York Times. June 17, 2007

Watch for even more exciting Terra initiatives in 2007! To learn more about how you can reach Terra.com's quality audience with your marketing message, call us at 212-354-2700. Visit http://www.terraknows.com.
By Natasha Funk Published July 31, 2007. If you missed past issues of Terra’s Smart Marketer Series and would like to obtain them, please send an email to: smartmarketer@terra.com.