Surfing the wave of new travel websites

June 10, 2009 | Online Travel

Another day, another online travel site. In fact, at a time when hotels are half-empty and airlines are on the brink, it seems as if the only optimists in the business are the developers of new travel Web sites.

“There’s a lot of talent out there,” says Henry Harteveldt, vice president at Forrester Research, “and an entrepreneur can say, ‘Gee, I’m frustrated with this or that aspect of planning my trip.’ Out of those frustrations can come some great business opportunities.”

Furthermore, says Lorraine Sileo, an analyst at PhoCusWright, the average online traveler looks at three or four sites, with many looking at far more: “You can’t just rely on one site to find everything you need.”

Put it all together - along with low start-up costs - and the plethora of new sites should come as no surprise. Whether they’re all viable is unclear, but in the meantime, here are some of the newest additions to the mix.

Get the full story at NBC

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