Internet travel sales continue to grow. - Internet travel sales are resisting the crisis and consumers continue to clearly express a preference for directly reserving their travel from a direct travel provider rather than from an intermediary. This is the observation made by a study from PricewaterhouseCoopers into the “e-tourism” market. This sector is holding up well against the crisis and has experienced huge growth rates over recent years, from 20% to peaks of 30-40% since 2003. Even better - it continues to gain market share. The most important development involves the players involved in this sector. New internet sites such as “infomédiaires” (price comparison providers, information sites etc.) are gaining an audience and leading to online travel agency economic models being questioned. Consolidation of the sector and a decrease in sector middle-men is therefore expected to continue. Online reservations are expected to increase by 0.6% in 2009 in Europe, in a context of crisis and where the travel sector has experienced an average decrease of 10% Encouraged by special offers to consumers, sector growth is expected to continue when the crisis eases off with annual growth of +15%, although this will be less than in previous years. The European online market, however, remains below the US market and has a lower penetration rate (28% in Europe as opposed to 36% in the US). Italy is the European country where the online market is least developed (14% penetration rate) and the United Kingdom and Scandinavian countries have the most mature markets for this sector (44% and 42% respectively in online reservations). At the same time, travel providers have (over the last six years) developed direct internet solutions. The immediate consequence of these changes is that economic models are changing: air committees for physical and online travel agencies have disappeared and some important sites have got rid of processing charges. In this context, the disappearance of physical travel agencies is continuing. (I.L./transl.fl)