The European travel market is marching relentlessly online, following in the footsteps of the US travel market. But while the pace may be similar, the gait is decidedly different.

European online leisure/unmanaged business travel as a percentage of the total travel market will approach 25% in 2007, the level achieved in the U.S. in 2004. Yet the individual markets of Europe, in particular the top five - U.K., Germany, France, Spain and Italy - display the variety of paths online that developing e-commerce economies take.

PhoCusWright has undertaken a country-by-country research effort covering these five markets and the European market as a whole, resulting in six new reports.

Cultural, technological, strategic and fiscal forces have shaped the online markets of each of these five largest European countries, and this new set of studies delves into the drivers and the likely effects of these forces.

For example, in Germany where Internet access is widespread and online purchasing is well established despite a relative aversion to credit card usage, travel purchase incidence is extremely low among both online buyers and frequent Internet users. Compare this to the U.K., where access is also ubiquitous and online purchasing routine, but more than twice as many online buyers and regular Internet users buy travel than in Germany. Meanwhile, Italy and Spain share similar connectivity profiles, but a much higher proportion of regular users of the Internet in Spain purchase travel online than in Italy.

Such trends are reflected in the relative development of the local travel markets, but they are also indicative of the types and sizes of opportunities that remain to be exploited. Using both quantitative analyses of market strengths and structures and qualitative approaches to the wide range of corporate and consumer-driven efforts to harness and shape the future of the Internet, this research sheds light on the current and likely future offerings of travel companies and the wants, wishes and needs of the traveling populace.

PhoCusWright's European Online Travel Overview is now available for purchase. It includes an overview of the European market (including total and online gross bookings by sector and channel, online direct by segment, and pan-European online travel agencies market share) as well as local market coverage for U.K., France, Germany, Italy and Spain.

Five individual country reports (U.K., France, Germany, Italy and Spain) are also available for purchase. Each individual country report contains the European market overview along with the specific local market content (U.K., France, Germany, Italy and Spain).