The Economist explains that the internet has ......... travel agents against travel providers in an intense battle to win customers.

This year's travel season, now ......... to a close, has been busier than ever, despite strikes and terrorist threats.

Freed from having to ring busy call centres or queue at high-street travel agents, consumers have gone online in ......... to find flights, hotels, car rentals and other travel services, making travel one of the most successful forms of e-commerce.

By designing websites that ordinary people could use, online travel agents were able to put product availability and price transparency at their customers' ..........

After the September 11th terrorist attacks on America, online agents helped airlines and hotels overcome a worldwide travel ......... by making bargains more visible to a greater number of people.

These websites work like shopping comparison services: matching users' ......... with offers and then directing bookings to the websites of agents and suppliers.

In America, suppliers and distributors currently each take about half of all online bookings; that adds up to a ......... chunk of the travel industry.

Most analysts ......... about one-third of America's $200 billion travel market will be booked online this year.

The travel market can be broken down into two parts: leisure combined with 'unmanaged' business travel (this is because individuals booking business trips can be ......... from leisure travellers) and managed corporate travel.

People booking online are now presented with a range of fares to choose from, with the busiest flights commanding the highest premiums, because customers are ......... enough to understand the laws of supply and demand.