HOTELMARKETING.COM

Search engines help drive online travel boom

January 13, 2006 |

Visits to UK travel websites have experienced an increase in demand during the key January period, with search engines playing an increasingly significant role in online holiday shopping, according to new research.

Internet research firm Hitwise reports that visits to travel sites reached 5.41% for the week ending 7 January 2006 – a 15% increase compared with the same period in 2005.

Last week, the sector reached its second highest peak over the last 15 months, just slightly lower than the high that occurred in August 2005 when the sector reached a 5.57% share of online visits.

Hitwise data further reveals that visits to travel websites were up 25% from the week ending December 31 as consumers turned from hunting for bargains during the post-Christmas sales to hunting for holiday deals as they returned to the daily grind of work.

Heather Hopkins, director of research for Hitwise UK, said: “What’s more, we have seen a marked increase of 30% in the volume of visits that search engines are sending to travel websites.

“Search is a critical source of visits, accounting for 38% of visits to travel websites, and Google’s dominance continues to be felt - accounting for 73% of the visits that Travel websites received from search engines in December,” Hopkins added.

Get the full story at Netimperative

Visit our sponsors: