The answer is simple: Huge. Funsherpa has put together some very interesting statistics referred to the US Travel Market which put numbers to our feeling. The U.S. online travel industry is set to reach a heady $162 billion in 2012 – up some 74 percent since 2007 – and social media is playing its part. More than half (52 percent) of travelers have changed their plans after researching their trip on social media sites, and 50 percent of travel companies have said that direct bookings have been generated from social media. And not to foget that 87 percent of travelers use the internet for the bulk of their travel planning.

As I have been saying years ago, the spanish on line travel market follows mostly the trends and patterns of the USA one, with some years of delay. In 2006, it could be a gap of 4 years. Now, probably would be 18 to 24 months.  So, my suggestion for those in the industry is to look in depth these data and move forward.