Hitwise
today reports that UK visits to the online travel sector in the first week of January were up 14% compared with the same week in 2004.In what looks to be a promising start to the year for the online travel industry, travel websites have received a significant boost in traffic as Britons look to escape the dismal winter weather for sunnier climates. Traffic to the travel sector claimed 4.71% of all visits in the week ending 8th January, an increase of 22% from the previous week. This time last year, visits to the travel sector were just over the 4% mark.Ê

In addition, monthly data reveals that December 2004 was also a strong month for the sector, with traffic up 20% from December 2003. Based on this year-on-year growth, the travel sector could reach 4.9% market share in January 2005 and equal the best ever month previously set by the travel industry in August 2004.

January 2005 also looks set to be a bumper month for Europe’s second biggest discount airline, easyJet. The cut-price airline recently reported a rapid rise in passenger numbers for December, and Hitwise data reveals a similarly sharp rise in online traffic to the easyJet website for the first week of January. Whilst traffic to the site dipped slightly during the holiday period from December 25th to January 1st, the week ending January 8th saw a 20% increase in traffic, with the website’s market share increasing from just over 10% to more than 12.2% in the Travel - Transport sector in the space of a week.

easyJet’s cut-price competitor, RyanAir, also increased its traffic by 18% in the first week of January, with Hitwise weekly data revealing a leap from 5.9% to almost 7% market share of the Travel - Transport sector between January 1st and January 8th.

In other travel industry news, Hitwise Search Terms data for the four weeks ending January 8th shows that Spain continues to be the top holiday destination for Britons - with Tenerife, Lanzarote and Majorca in the top five most searched-for travel destinations.

TRAVEL: TOP 10 DESTINATIONS SEARCHED FOR

Based on data for four weeks ending 8th January 2005

Rank Desitination

1. tenerife

2. spain

3. greece

4. lanzarote

5. majorca

6. ski holidays

7. disneyland paris

8. gran canaria

9. fuerteventura

10. cyprus
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