ABTA (the Association of British Travel Agents) recorded the highest number of searches within its consumer website www.abta.com during January 2005. For the first time the website had over 100,000 searches on the site (108,435) - more than double last January’s figure.

It is the ‘gateway’ pages of www.abta.com which has experienced the most growth. This section of the website posts, for free, good holiday deals from Members and takes consumers directly to the Members’ own website.

“Obviously January is a peak time for people researching holidays, so we saw a lot of seasonal traffic last month,” says Daryl Nurthen ABTA’s manager for internet services, “but Google has also ranked our page highly and given it a seven out of ten. As this and other search engines list our pages more prominently, then they will deliver more visitors to abta.com, but ultimately also to Member sites.”

ABTA Tour Operator and Travel Agent Members have nearly 4,000 registered websites with the Association and can benefit by uploading current offers on www.abta.com/offers.

www.abta.com was set up in 1996 and as well as offering a wealth of important consumer advice on holidays, including information on financial protection and how to take a complaint through the independent arbitration system, the website has a search facility, which verifies membership of ABTA companies. Consumers can also find out which members specialise in certain types of holidays and destinations. .
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