Online marketing in the travel industry will reach a worth of £21 billion ($41.3 billion ) during 2007, according to new statistics.

A report from eMarketer, entitled US Online Travel: The Threat of Commoditization, has found that 52.5 per cent of people will use the internet to book their 2007 expeditions.

The study attributes the rise to the popularity of the internet, in particular social networking, which allows travellers to swap stories, photographs and recommendations on global hotspots. The research goes on to estimate that the industry will be worth an additional $8 billion by 2010 - taking its overall value to $51.1 billion. Jeffrey Grau, the senior analyst who authored the report, claimed that "industry players must be willing to reinvent themselves to keep up with consumer, technology and competitive forces".  I couldn't agree more.