Online travel business sees traffic and conversion bumps

A new report from research firm PhoCusWright and Compete.com, travel websites showed increases in both monthly traffic and sales conversions for the second quarter of 2009 relative to previous years.

Transactional travel websites - suppliers and online travel agencies - saw monthly visitors surge in June, with cruise lines gaining 19 percent year-over-year, and hotel chains picking up 13 percent. For the first half of the year, compared to 2007 and 2008, hotel and car-rental visitor traffic showed modest gains. Only the air sector of online travel-agency business posted a decline from last year, of 15 percent, but the conversion of air travel-oriented visits to sales increased.

Fewer people are looking, it seems, but it's also more focused. Online travel agency visitors looking to buy tickets are more likely to pull the trigger. "The reliance that consumers have on travel Web sites has not weakened one bit," says Carroll Rheem, director of research at PhoCusWright. "Consumers are certainly spending less, but they are not giving up travel, nor are they turning away from the Web sites that offer them the selection and convenience they value."

This year, online travel agencies have experienced a wide range of conversions, with cruise shoppers converting at only 0.2 percent and those for rental cars reaching 19.7 percent. Though the trend is heading upward, a substantial portion of figurative window-shoppers are not completing their bookings. As a result, many online travel agencies are still leaving money on the table.

External Source - For the complete article click here

Source - AOL