Surge in January travel website visits

Expedia has leapt into the top 20 UK websites after a 60% rise in traffic last month as travel websites experienced a surge in visitors.

Data from internet measurement firm comScore Networks shows that Expedia attracted almost 6.6 million UK visitors in January against 4.1 million in December.

Other top gaining travel sites included MyTravel, up 169% to 3.3 million visitors; Thomas Cook, up 153% to 3.1 million visitors; First Choice Holidays, up 145% to 3 million visitors; TUI, up 109% to 5.5 million visitors; Cheapflights sites, up 103% to 2.5 million visitors; Priceline.com, up 73% to 2.4 million visitors; EasyGroup, up 60% to 3.8 million visitors; British Airways, up 50% to 3.4 million visitors; and Lastminute.com sites, up 49% to 4.2 million visitors.  In addition, Travelsupermarket.com, owned by top gainer Moneysupermarket.com, rose 145% to 1.9 million visitors in January.

Half of the top 20 gaining sites belonged to the travel category last month, according to comScore.

Bob Ivins, managing director of comScore Europe, said: “After returning from the Christmas holidays, with months of winter weather still ahead, Brits flocked to travel Web sites to plan their next holiday.

“January has historically been the time to plan travel, and this seasonal trend is now being borne out online, with many travel sites seeing their traffic more than double.”

Top 20 Gaining Properties by Percentage Change in UK unique visitors

  January 2007 vs.  December 2006

  Total UK visitors, age 15+ – Home and Work Locations

                                             Dec.-06  Jan.-06   Percentage

                                                (000)    (000)      Change

  Total U.K. Internet Audience, Age 15+  29,788   30,072           1 %

  MyTravel Group plc            1,240    3,339         169 %

  Thomas C                        1,230    3,109         153 %

  First Choice Holidays          1,204    2,952         145 %

  TUI Group                        2,627    5,482         109 %

  Cheapflights Sites             1,231    2,505         103 %

  Channel4                         2,895    5,802         100 %

  JOBCENTREPLUS.GOV.UK    1,477    2,683          82 %

  Priceline.com                    1,409    2,444          73 %

  DIRECT.GOV.UK                1,831    3,118          70 %

  RIGHTMOVE.CO.UK            2,129    3,426          61 %

  Expedia                           4,106    6,582          60 %

  EasyGroup                       2,392    3,820          60 %

  British Airways                  2,252    3,369          50 %

  Guardian Media Group        2,886    4,312          49 %

  Lastminute.com Sites         2,835    4,215          49 %

  Reed Elsevier Group           1,832    2,699          47 %

  iVillage.com: The Womens Network  1,779    2,608          47 %

  NHS.UK                           2,639    3,718          41 %

  Moneysupermarket.com      4,005    5,589          40 %

  Happygroup                     3,407    4,726          39 %

  Top 20 Online Properties by UK unique visitors, age 15+

  January 2007

                                             Dec.-06  Jan.-07   Percentage

                                                (000)    (000)      Change

  Total UK Internet Audience, Age 15+  29,788   30,072           1 %

  Google Sites       25,751   26,236           2 %

  Microsoft Sites    25,721   25,868           1 %

  eBay                  20,921   21,251           2 %

  Yahoo! Sites        20,171   20,220           0 %

  BBC Sites            16,665   17,554           5 %

  Time Warner Network 13,878   14,282           3 %

  Amazon Sites       14,481   13,645          -6 %

  Ask Network         12,116   12,848           6 %

  Fox Interactive Media 10,434   11,150           7 %

  Wikipedia Sites      9,007   10,654          18 %

  Apple Computer     9,370    9,477           1 %

  DMGT                  6,850    9,383          37 %

  CNET Networks      7,978    8,776          10 %

  Tesco Stores        7,327    7,919           8 %

  Home Retail Group  9,883    7,827         -21 %

  France Telecom     6,699    7,478          12 %

  BSkyB                  9,459         6,951         -27 %

  MULTIMAP.COM      6,220    6,917          11 %

  New York Times Digital 5,935    6,861          16 %

  Expedia             4,106    6,582          60 %

by Phil Davies

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