May 2--More U.S. travelers are using the Internet and fewer are using travel agents, according to a national travel survey released this week. 

The 2002 Travel Monitor, conducted by Yesawich, Pepperdine & Brown and Yankelovich Partners, is an annual poll of U.S. passengers attitudes towards travel. The group polled 1,351 leisure travelers and 1,200 business travelers January through March. 

The good news for East Valley travel agencies is that after a national travel showdown prompted by the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on top of a sagging economy, people said they are planning to travel more this year. The bad news is that more of them plan to skip the agents' services. Business travelers remain more loyal to travel agents, with 35 percent saying they will continue to use the agencies. That beats the 33 percent of business travelers who plan to book their reservations online. 

Vacationers are more likely to surf the web for a deal, with 32 percent saying they would use the Internet to make reservations, a big jump from the 25 percent last year who said they would book plane trips online. Only 27 percent of the leisure travelers said they would use a travel agent. 

"People are more aware of what bargains are out there and the Internet is a good source of information for inexpensive, last minute travel," said Con Hitchcock, airline passenger advocate, travel-tip columnist and chairman of Internet reservation system Orbitz' Consumer Advisory Panel. "It plays to the changed interest in travel towards shorter trips, staying closer to home and spending more time with family and friends." 

East Valley hoteliers said their online bookings reflect the trend. "Our online bookings are really high, way ahead of last year," said Mark Lindsey, marketing director of the Doubletree La Posada Resort in Paradise Valley. "We are seeing more people shopping for discounts." 

Tom Kreitler, general manager of the Holiday Inn Phoenix-Tempe ASU said hotel companies, like many airlines, are driving people to online bookings by offering Internet-only deals. It's working, he said. 

"Our Internet bookings are definitely on the rise," Kreitler said. Holiday Inn has its own central reservations website and has joined with several other major hotel companies -- including Hyatt, Marriott International, and Starwood, parent of Sheraton, Westin and others -- to form the Hotel Distribution System, a joint Internet reservation system. Sites such as Hotwire, Orbitz, Travelocity, Expedia and others provide area hotels a way to fill last-minute, still-empty rooms at deep discounts. 

Hitchcock said the Internet may be helping speed the travel industry recovery by getting bargain hunters who wouldn't be traveling otherwise to book a trip just because they can get a good deal. 

"You may have thought about visiting Aunt Shirley in Cleveland sometime, and all of a sudden you find a $99 fare," he said. 

Even travel agents like Sunny Talwar of Choice Travel in Scottsdale agree that for a last-minute trip to stay with a relative, the Internet is a big lure for bargain-minded travelers. 

Travel agents were much more concerned when airlines dumped commissions earlier this year, forcing the agencies to add a service charge to customers bookings just to cover their own expenses. Several East Valley agencies packed it in, crushed by the travel showdown and compounded by the loss of commissions. But Talwar said those travel agents who perform more of a service than just booking a plane survived the commission cutback and will survive the Internet as well. He said his business has not been hurt by web-based bookings. "We have a lot of corporate customers and seniors who don't mind paying a service charge," Talwar said. "We are like consultants." 

Talwar said his clients depend on him to know what hotels are closest to the places they plan to spend their time, are in the right part of town and have the right amenities. That's information you can't get just with a name and address on the Web, he said. 

Pam Stewart of Stewart Travel in Mesa said she can usually beat online deals with her own sources anyway, and that keeps her regular customers coming back to her instead of a computer. 

"We're very busy," she said. "The Internet doesn't bother me." 

Hitchcock said the vast majority of tickets are still done by travel agents, and that likely will continue. "Even though Internet usage is higher among leisure travelers today than in 2001, it is important to note that fully three out of every 10 leisure travelers still use the services of a travel agent. This is particularly true among older and more affluent travelers. Contrary to the expectations of some industry analysts, travel agents still play a very important role in directing leisure travel demand, " said Yesawich, Pepperdine & Brown CEO Peter Yesawich in a statement accompanying the survey results. 

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(c) 2002, The Tribune, Mesa, Ariz. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News. SXC, MAR, TSG, EXPE,