Almost half of all adults who use the internet have shopped online.

Booking travel, accommodation or a holiday was the most popular reason for 54 per cent of those in a survey with access to the net.

Forty-one per cent also said they went online to book tickets for concerts and events, 40 per cent to order a book, magazine or distant learning, and 38 per cent to buy CDs.

The report, compiled by the Government's National Statistics, found home internet access was growing.

By March this year, 47 per cent of all British households were linked up to the net, a rise of 4 per cent from the same time last year and up from 13 per cent in March 1999.

Wednesday July 9 2003