Terrorism, technology drove changes in travel in the last decade

itinerary fares for the second quarter show that they were actually 11 percent lower in 2009, at $301, than in 2000, at $339.

Harpaz writes that technology is the other big force that has changed travel in the last decade. xpedia and Travelocity began accepting online bookings in 1996, but the phenomenon of using the Internet to routinely book and plan travel has exploded in the twenty-first century. In 2009, for the first time, more than half of travel bookings were made online, according to Douglas Quinby of PhoCusWright, a travel industry research company (if you are surprised that online bookings make up only 50 percent of travel, consider this: Most group travel, most cruises, many complicated itineraries and even the majority of lodging reservations are still booked through a travel agent, by phone or in person, Quinby says).

The Internet’s impact on travel is not just in booking; it is also in planning trips. Instead of buying a guidebook, today’s traveler might consult a destination Web site. To find a restaurant, you might go online to Yelp or Chowhound, or ask friends for a recommendation through Facebook or Twitter. For hotels, you might visit TripAdvisor.com, which started allowing customers to post reviews in 2001 and today has over 30 million of them.

Technology has even changed the way we drive to our destinations. MapQuest started offering directions online in 1996, the same year GM introduced Onstar. Google Maps dates to 2005. An early handheld Garmin GPS device sold for $589 in 2003; today’s Garmins start as low as $89. You might not need one if your phone has a mapping app.

Here are few other noteworthy travel trends from the last decade:

Americans make more international trips than they used to, but they are choosing more exotic destinations.

In 2000, 61.3 million U.S. residents traveled abroad. In 2008, the number climbed to 63.5 million.

The number going to Western Europe declined about 20 percent, from 12.9 million to 10.4 million. In contrast, travel increased from the U.S. to many other regions: Eastern Europe and South America, up 30 percent; and travel to India, China, and Vietnam, roughly twice in 2008 what it was in 2000, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce, Office of Travel and Tourism Industries.

The old saying that “cruises are for the newlywed, overfed, and nearly dead” is no longer true. The last decade has seen innovations in cruising as in no other mode of travel. Ships have become small cities, carrying 4,000 people, with amenities like ice rinks, rock-climbing walls, planetariums, surfing machines, and water slides. Some cruises cater to families, with kids’ programs; others are magnets for partying singles, offering easy spring break trips to sunny climes. You do not have to live in Florida to catch a ship. There are year-round home ports in New York, Galveston, Texas, and many other coastal cities.

“Cruising, once the territory of the rich and famous has become a mainstream vacation today, and provides a well-packaged floating vacation with all the basics included in the price: accommodations, meals, sports/fitness facilities, and entertainment,” said Douglas Ward, author of the “Berlitz Complete Guide to Cruising and Cruise Ships 2010.” “It has become a particularly good vacation value for families with children — hassle-free, entertaining, and safe.”