Eleven per cent of hotel bookings will be taken over the Web by next year, the Irish Hotels' Federation annual conference heard today.
Dr Judy Siguaw of Cornell University School of Hotel Administration told the three-day conference in Killarney, Co Kerry: "Worldwide tourist numbers are set to double over the next 20 years from 700 million international trips to 1.4 billion trips and the Internet will play a critical role in hotel room distribution.
In 2001 only 3 per cent of bookings came from the Internet, but delegates were warned that hotels which do not have a Web presence risked losing business.
"Irish accommodation providers need to ensure that they get online with a well-designed website to ensure that the hotel is easily found by prospective customers, Dr Siguaw said.
"It's also crucial that a hotel displays its best available offers on its own branded website in order to drive traffic to the site and to increase customer loyalty and repeat business."
Mr John Fitzpatrick of the Fitzpatrick Hotel Group, said that by 2007 global online hotel bookings will be valued at some $14.8 billion.