CONSUMER traffic to Australian travel websites is at an all-time high, according to Nielsen//NetRatings and Hitwise.
Not surprisingly, given the launch of Jetstar, the sharpest growth has occurred within the airline sites over the past two years.
However, hotels and travel agencies are not far behind.
According to Hitwise:
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Commercial Airlines >> Increased 69% between December 2003 and January 2005
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Travel Agencies >> Increased 40% between December 2003 and January 2005
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Destinations & Accommodation >> Increased 46% between December 2003 and January 2005
Meanwhile Nielsen//NetRatings reports a similar pattern.
Senior Analyst Andrew Eckford said the trend has been particularly evident during the first three months of 2005.
“Over the past few weeks we have seen consistently more than 630,000 unique browsers a week to audited travel sites.
“This is significantly higher than seen for any week since we launched the Market Intelligence measurement for the travel industry.”
Tables Below From Nielsen//NetRatings and Hitwise:
Nielsen//NetRatings Market Intelligence, Domestic Traffic to Travel Sites by Category for February 2005
Category Unique Browsers Page Impressions
Travel Portals 1,272,537 10,659,606
Destinations 488,256 5,065,915
Hotels 203,342 1,640,914
Rental Cars 133,497 1,576,388
Hitwise – Travel – Agencies ” February 2005 ” Ranks by ‘Visits’
Name Domain Market Share
1 Flight Centre www.flightcentre.com 11.50%
2 Webjet www.webjet.com.au 6.31%
3 lastminute.com.au www.au.lastminute.com 5.96%
4 Expedia.com www.expedia.com 4.47%
5 ZUJI Australia www.zuji.com 3.91%
6 Best Flights www.bestflights.com.au 3.44%
7 Travel.com.au www.travel.com.au 3.18%
8 Octopus Travel www.octopustravel.com/au 2.50%
9 ITN.net www.itn.net 1.92%
10 ninemsn Travel www.ninemsn.com.au 1.90%
Hitwise – Travel – Destinations and Accommodation ” February 2005 ” Ranks by ‘Visits’
Name Domain Market Share
1 Wotif.com www.wotif.com 6.71%
2 HotelClub.net www.hotelclub.net 5.70%
3 RatesToGo.com www.ratestogo.com 2.93%
4 Need It Now www.needitnow.com.au 1.96%
5 TravelMate www.travelmate.com.au 1.91%
6 Trip Advisor www.tripadvisor.com 1.60%
7 Totaltravel.com www.totaltravel.com 1.37%
8 Visit Victoria www.visitvictoria.com.au 1.36%
9 Lonely Planet www.lonelyplanet.com 1.35%
10 AAA Tourism www.aaatourism.com.au 1.30%
Nielsen//NetRatings Market Intelligence, Top Destination Sites for February 2005
Unique Browsers Page Impressions
1 visitvictoria.com 161,372 1,353,450
2 ourbrisbane.com 154,053 1,235,204
3 visitnsw.com.au 60,383 559,331
4 discovertasmania.com 48,739 813,611
5 westernaustralia.com 39,281 337,420
6 southaustralia.com 21,653 319,092
Ends/ 22 March, 2005