Business | Tourism

Airline websites see drop in traffic as customers seek cheaper options

Airline websites are falling in popularity, the latest evidence that more customers are pursuing cheaper holiday alternatives at home this summer rather than travelling abroad.

  • Financial Times
  • Published: 00:11 June 4, 2008
  • Gulf News

London: Airline websites are falling in popularity, the latest evidence that more customers are pursuing cheaper holiday alternatives at home this summer rather than travelling abroad.

British Airways, Easyjet and Ryanair saw their positions among the top 20 retail websites fall in April against the same month last year in a league table compiled by IMRG and Hitwise, the internet monitoring organisations that rank companies on site visits. Expedia and Lastminute.com travel sites also tumbled.

"I think the travel industry has been declining over the last year or so," said Robin Goad, director of research at Hitwise. However, he pointed out that the falls could have been exaggerated by established retailers moving quickly up the rankings.

Amazon led the list, which compares retailers' internet site visits over the last two years, followed by Apple, Play.com, Tesco.com and Argos. Easyjet fell from 8th place to 10th, Ryanair from 9th to 14th and British Airways from 10th to 19th.

The gloomy news for the travel sector contrasts with a positive picture for overall online shopping revealed in another report Monday, with Verdict Research, the retail analysis company, finding that online spending grew last year at its fastest rate for six years.

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