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"The Social Travel Series is supported by join.me, the easiest way to have an online meeting. join.me lets you instantly share your screen with anyone, for free. Use it to collaborate, demo, show off \u2014 the possibilities are endless. Try it today.\nThese days, it's hard to imagine booking travel without leaving the comfort of your computer chair. But booking flights electronically is actually a relatively new invention, despite its ubiquitous presence nowadays. In fact, electronic reservations were not available outside airline terminals until the mid-1970s, when access was limited to licensed travel agents and only provided for a few domestic airlines. \nSince the rise of online travel in the mid-1990s, it seems that there's an endless well of ways to get your travel fix. From classic travel aggregators to especially luxe vacation packages at a discount, the selections available online make it easy to book nearly any sort of trip at any time. And that turns into plenty of bookings: It's projected that within the year 2012, there will be 98.3 million bookings on the Internet, which translates into major profit for online travel companies. \nIn the infographic below, you'll see the progression of online travel, from its roots in old electronic booking systems to the newest and shiniest deals websites. Plus, get an inside look at how users behave while on online travel sites \u2014 and where they love to go.\nDo you ever book offline anymore, or is online booking always the way to go? Let us know in the comments below.\n\n\nSeries supported by join.me\n\n\n\n\nThe Social Travel Series is supported by join.me, the easiest way to have an online meeting. Named one of Time magazine\u2019s best websites of 2011, join.me lets you share your screen so you can instantly get together, collaborate, demo, show off, and more. Plus, it\u2019s totally free. How will you use it? Check it out today.\nInfographic design by Lindsey McCormack"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2012/02/21/online-travel-infographic/>