Travellers booking on the Internet prefer city breaks and activity holidays while those who use a high street travel agent head for the Mediterranean, according to research released last week. It also showed that online bookers are more bargain-conscious and spend longer researching their holidays than those booking through traditional channels.

The Online Travel Report, released by Expedia, which claims to be Britain's fastest-growing travel website, is based on an ICM telephone poll of offline customers and a questionnaire completed by the site's own users. It showed that one-third of conventional customers took a traditional Mediterranean package compared with only 15 per cent of online bookers.

Two-thirds of the 1,047 Expedia customers spent less than £500 - their average spend was £477 - while more than half of the sample of 526 offline travellers spent more than £500. This reflects the mix of short city breaks and airline tickets bought on the web.

The survey reveals that online bookers spent an average of 36 minutes making a purchase compared with the 29 minutes spent flicking through brochures at a travel agent. Although Monday is the busiest day for hits on travel websites, one-third of the online sample booked at weekends while 47 per cent booked in the evening.

The reasons given for booking on the Net included control (51 per cent), speed (41 per cent) and breadth of choice (39 per cent). Forty per cent of those who did not book online cited lack of access as the reason.

• Barcelona has slipped from third place to sixth in the first quarter of 2000 in a city break survey. Paris and Amsterdam retain the top two positions in sales through Crystal Cities, followed by New York, Dublin and Rome. Bruges is the only newcomer in the top 10.