FCO travel advice website is under performing, says Keynote

Thursday, 23 May, 2006 0

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office website is struggling to cope with the numbers of holidaymakers seeking advice on travel health and safety, according to research by Keynote Systems.

Keynote, which monitors internet performance, recorded average load times of 15.16 seconds for the site this month, well above the normal load time for a UK site.

At their worst, load times reached as high as 31 seconds, prompting Keynote to award the site a performance rating of only two stars out of a possible five.

Keynote VP and MD EMEA Haran Sold believes there has been a rise in demand for the site due to terrorist attacks, health scares and the increasing number of locations now deemed unsafe.

“Consumers rely on the information provided by these sites to give them the best and most up-to-date advice, so they can make an informed decision about when and where to go abroad,” he said

“Organisations and governments should pay attention to the usability and performance of their websites as an additional tool to increase tourism and improve their image abroad.”

By Bev Fearis

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Bev

Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.

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