Whenever there is a significant change in the marketplace that affects How, When, What or Where consumers spend their hard earned money its called a "Market Shift". There are also two significant things that actually happens in the marketplace whenever there is a market shift.

(1) Depending on their positioning in the marketplace, some people are able to tap into a newfound market of wealth as a result.

(2) On the contrary, some people actually lose lots of money or may even become obsolete after being replaced with new technology or innovations etc. and consequently go out of business.

In retrospect, one of the first major market shifts took place over 100 years ago during the early 20th century. When America became a more industrialized nation, hence came the invention and the need for the automobile. The automobile gradually became the common mode of transportation for most people instead of the traditional horses and wagons.

This market shift also created the need to build more roads and highways as well as the demand for gasoline. This increasing trend of more people driving cars everyday also created enormous wealth for the major car manufacturers. The first pioneer who was one of the wealthiest men in the world at the time and who was also well positioned for this market shift was Henry Ford founder of the Ford Motor Company.

We experienced a similar market shift with the invention of the telephone which later became the regular mode of daily communication for most people instead of the telegraph and writing letters. This market shift later created the demand for long distance phone services. There have been numerous long distance phone companies that were positioned to gain wealth from this market shift such as AT &T, Sprint and MCI.

On the contrary, there have also been a number of major market shifts in which entire industries have lost big money or even became obsolete as a result. A good example would be all the major Television Networks that have been affected by lost advertising revenues to numerous emerging Cable T.V. networks as Cable subscribers became mainstream in consumer homes.

A similar result occurred with the market shift in the music industry. Due to changes with innovations in the marketplace, consumers changed from buying albums and 8-Track tapes to buying Compact Discs. As a result, many vinyl manufacturers lost major money since albums are now basically obsolete. The same thing is taking place with the VHS video cassettes since most people now are buying DVD players today. This would also explain why now it's harder to find VHS rentals in most major video stores.

There are now three major trends taking place today in the marketplace which has created

"One of the Largest Market Shifts in History"

Trend One: The Travel Industry is now growing about 23% faster than the global economy; in fact people spend about $1.3 Trillion in the U.S. alone. This market is growing so fast it is predicted to double within the next 7-10 years.

Trend Two: The Baby Boomers which is the generation born between 1946 and 1964 have a big affect on this tremendous growth in the travel industry. As these people reach retirement age what do you think they do when they retire? Travel! Among the Baby Boomers one person will reach retirement age every 8 seconds for the next 20 years.

Trend Three: There is rapid increase in consumer spending on the internet to the tune of billions of dollars. About 5 years ago people mainly made basically smaller purchases only, however today people are more comfortable with everything from online dating to buying cars and homes online. However travel is the fastest growing segment of this trend.

All three of these trends are the major reasons why there is now a major market shift in the travel industry. Consumer spending on travel is rapidly changing from buying travel via a "brick and mortar' travel agency to a "click and mortar" online travel site. This would also explain why numerous agencies have all gone out of business by the thousands within the last 5 years. In fact over 200K travel agents have lost their jobs due to this major market shift in the travel industry.

Fortunes are always made by individuals who are positioned to recognize a growing profitable trend and position themselves to capitalize on the emerging market shift. In 2003 a wealthy entrepreneur named Barry Diller proved he had foresight when he bought Expedia (Online Travel Agency) for $5.1 Billion. Expedia alone has been almost as profitable as all his other business ventures for the last 20 years combined.

Mr. Diller and Expedia also spend about $5Million per week on advertising. Their multi-million dollar advertising budget is what drives their huge online traffic as well as the millions consumers spend each month on their travel site.

There is also another emerging travel company that is exploding in the marketplace called YTB Travel and Cruises which was founded in 2001.YTB Travel has a unique business model which allows everyday people like you to tap into and actually profit from this huge market shift in the travel industry. The company also offers the same destinations and discounts flights, cruises, and hotels found on Expedia and all the other major online travel websites.

The interesting thing that sets YTB Travel in a class of its own is that instead of them spending the $5Million per week on advertising like Expedia, YTB Travel utilizes the power of "word of mouth" advertising. It has been proven time and time again that word of mouth is not only the cheapest but the best advertising money can buy.

YTB Travel sells millions of dollars worth of travel via thousands of Referring Travel Agents. (RTAs) whom all have their own independent YTB Travel booking engine websites whereby consumers can book travel. Keep in mind that since the company doesn't have to spend a dime on advertising; all those millions of dollars in saved advertising dollars are paid out to the numerous (RTAs) in commissions and Bonuses.

It is also quite interesting how although over 200K travel agents have lost their jobs in recent years due to the industry market shift, YTB Travel is growing by leaps and bounds with numerous home based (RTAs). As of the beginning of 2007 there are over 60K home-based (RTAs) and actually expected to double to well over 120K by the end of the year. .

So finally there is a perfect opportunity for common everyday people to get their share of the wealth from a major industry market shift, just like the "Big Boys" and the major corporations have been doing for the last 100 years.