All Eyes on Russia as Eastern Europe Travel Market Shifts Online

Online booking is finally gaining a foothold in Eastern Europe, one of online travel's last frontiers. According to a forthcoming Phocuswright Global and European Edition report, Phocuswright's Eastern Europe Online Travel Overview, just 16% of Eastern Europe's total travel market was booked online in 2011, but that figure will reach nearly one fourth (23%) by 2013.

The report is the first comprehensive study of this rapidly changing growth market, the first to examine the drivers and challenges in a region that tallied US$85.1 billion in travel bookings in 2011. By 2013, that number will expand to $92.5 billion, of which $20.9 billion will be transacted online. Online growth will dramatically outpace the single-digit uptick of the total market, jumping 27% and 26% in 2012 and 2013, respectively. A major factor in that growth will be the online awakening of the Russia travel market, by far the region's largest. Phocuswright projects Russia's online travel penetration will climb from 10% in 2011 to 18% by 2013.

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PRE-RELEASE ITEM

The expected publication date is July 20, 2012.

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"Russia's online travel growth has lagged due to the vast size of the country's unwired, rural areas, as well as consumers' distrust of banks and charge cards," said Lorraine Sileo, vice president, research. "But change is coming fast, and Russia's online emergence signals a major shift in how travel is sold in the region."

Phocuswright's Eastern Europe Online Travel Overview presents market sizing and projections for Eastern Europe's total and online leisure and unmanaged business travel markets through 2013. The report analyzes competitive dynamics throughout the region, with insight into online travel adoption in Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Hungary, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece and the Czech Republic. Highlights include:

• Total market and online leisure/unmanaged business travel bookings for 2009-2013
• Analysis of major travel product segments – air, lodging, rail, car rental and tour operators
• Comparison of supplier-branded websites and online travel agencies (OTAs, including bookings and projected growth rates through 2013)
• Discussion of the OTA landscape, including key players, recent developments and the relative influence of local versus global OTAs
• Impact of mobile, search and social websites

Phocuswright's Eastern Europe Online Travel Overview sizes the Eastern Europe travel market for the first time, providing insight into growth dynamics as this sleeping giant awakens.

PRE-RELEASE ITEM – The expected publication date is July 20, 2012.