Why, the Internet of course. That's a lot of plane tickets, hotel rooms, and rental cars. It'll be interesting to see how much of that growth is natural migration as people accustomed to traditional ways of buying travel bring their business to the Web, and how much will be new business that's a result of aging baby boomers with more leisure time and others who are just enjoying the benefits of a strong economy. And despite all the technology we use to communicate with colleagues around the world, there doesn't seem to be any letup in business travel, either. The first concern will always exist when you shop for anything online.
Travel is no exception.
You trust his or her expertise, but you'll never really know unless you sit down and do the research on your own as well. At least with the Web, you have that option. The truth is that these days, flexibility in planning is more a function of the type of ticket you buy and when you buy it than of who you buy it from. So far, the majority of plane tickets sold on the Web are for leisure travelers who lock in their vacations well in advance. Businesspeople, many of whom are forced to use corporate travel agents anyway, reserve later and pay more for open tickets.