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In online travel, women are the purchasing decision makers

March 09, 2006 |

There is a common stereotype that men are more web savvy than women, but a new survey shows that when it comes to booking travel online, women take a backseat to no one.

There is a common stereotype that men are more web savvy than women, but a new survey conducted by the european company ArgusCarHire shows that when it comes to booking travel online, women take a backseat to no one. Both Stateside and in Europe, women are now taking charge of making travel decisions and purchasing travel.

The survey reveals that women convert at a higher rate than men from the first step of researching a specific online travel product to making a final online purchase. This is especially true for car rentals and airline tickets.

Nearly two-thirds of women versus 58% of men who have researched car hire online have also made a reservation online - and 64.6% of women versus 59.0% of men who researched airline flights/fares online have made a final online ticket purchase. A similar proportion of men (55.0%) and women (56.9%) who research hotel accommodations also booked a room online.

In Europe, women are also catching up with men fast. When it comes to using the internet to book travel, this survey shows that women logging on to travel sites now account for 44% of total visitors, compared with 36% at the same time last year.

According to Mr Greg Turley, CEO and Founder of ArgusCarHire “Women value the speed and convenience of online shopping and it seems this trend extends to researching and booking travel online. We would expect this trend to continue, as we have seen in the US where 49% of users in this category are female”.

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