Hispanic Presence Felt At Travel Sites
Nearly as many Hispanics visit travel sites as the total U.S. Internet population, reflecting online growth and spending power.
Hispanics are the largest U.S. minority group and the Latin influence is becoming a noticeable online presence. In fact, Jupiter Research (a unit of this site’s corporate parent) predicts that the number of Hispanic online households will have grown from approximately 5.5 million in 2003 to 8 million – or 68 percent – in 2007.
| Online Hispanic Household Estimates |
|
|---|---|
| 2001 | 4.5 million |
| 2002 | 5.0 million |
| 2003 | 5.5 million |
| 2004 | 6.2 million |
| 2005 | 6.8 million |
| 2006 | 7.4 million |
| 2007 | 8.0 million |
| Note: Hispanic households can be of any race. July 2002, U.S. only. |
|
| Source: Jupiter Research | |
The spending increases along with the population. HispanTelligence, the research services unit of Hispanic Business Inc., found that U.S. Hispanic purchasing power grew 8 percent to almost $540 billion in 2002, swelling to $638 billion by 2010.
comScore Media Metrix identified travel as the largest category of online spending among the U.S. Hispanic population, with 43 percent visiting a travel site in June 2003. Comparatively, 49 percent of the general Internet population visited an online travel site during the same time period. However, a side-by-side comparison shows the differences between Hispanic Internet users and the general population.
| Unique Visitors to Travel Category Total U.S., Home, Work and University Locations, June 2003 |
|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hispanic Internet Users | All Internet Users | ||||
| Rank | Unique Visitors (000) |
Rank | Unique Visitors (000) |
||
| Total Internet Users | 12,533 | Total Internet Users | 146,476 | ||
| Travel Category | 5,406 | Travel Category | 71,201 | ||
| 1. | MAPQUEST.COM | 1,988 | 1. | MAPQUEST.COM | 30,031 |
| 2. | Expedia Travel | 1,249 | 2. | Expedia Travel | 18,125 |
| 3. | Trip Network Inc. | 956 | 3. | Travelocity | 14,316 |
| 4. | Travelocity | 927 | 4. | Trip Network Inc. | 12,739 |
| 5. | AOL Proprietary Travel | 863 | 5. | ORBITZ.COM | 12,667 |
| 6. | ORBITZ.COM | 859 | 6. | Hotels.com Sites | 8,014 |
| 7. | PRICELINE.COM | 629 | 7. | AOL Proprietary Travel | 7,932 |
| 8. | HOTWIRE.COM | 617 | 8. | HOTWIRE.COM | 7,733 |
| 9. | Hotels.com Sites | 583 | 9. | PRICELINE.COM | 7,411 |
| 10. | Yahoo Travel | 419 | 10. | SOUTHWEST.COM | 5,622 |
| Source: comScore Media Metrix | |||||
Visitation by U.S. Hispanics to the travel category overall has grown by 7 percent in the past 6 months, and 3 percent between May and June alone. The most significant increases in the past 6 months have been to Hotels.com (124 percent growth) and Hotwire (66 percent growth), followed by Travelocity (32 percent), Priceline (29 percent), and Expedia (24 percent). Growth to the travel category was only measured at 4 percent for the general population over the past 6 months.
The top 3 airlines’ sites were the same for Hispanic users and total Internet users: Southwest, American Airlines, and Delta. JetBlue and Spirit Airlines, which offer full shopping and booking functionality in Spanish, are ranked significantly higher among U.S. Hispanic Internet users. In fact, JetBlue and Spirit Airlines are the only two major airlines with Web sites that reach a higher percentage of Spanish-preferred and bilingual Internet users than total U.S. Internet users.
Not surprisingly, airlines that serve major Hispanic population centers and destinations, such as America West, Mexicana and AeroMexico, rank significantly higher among Hispanics compared to the total U.S. Internet population.
