Travel websites fail to capitalise on traffic boom

Under-prepared travel websites are failing to take advantage of growing visitor numbers, according to a study by load testing and website monitoring specialist, NCC Group plc Site Confidence.

100 per cent of travel websites surveyed experienced availability problems between 1^st January and 31^st March, with 22 per cent of websites unavailable for over 100 hours.

The statistics, taken from a wide sample of user experiences with the UK’s largest travel websites, noted that, on average, sites were unavailable to complete transactions for 89 hours over the test period.

Separate research from global internet information provider, comScore, found a 15.8 per cent rise in visitor numbers to UK travel websites between 1^st December 2008 and 31^st March 2009, with over 60 million unique visitors between 1^st January and 31^st March.

The research suggests that while other UK industries are struggling during the economic downturn, travel companies are failing to capitalise on increasing sales opportunities in the sector.

Bob Dowson, Director at NCC Group plc Site Confidence, comments: “Now, more than ever, online travel companies must take advantage of peak sales periods and increases in website traffic. However, in failing to provide an error free user experience, many risk severely weakening their market position.

"Website functionality issues affect a company’s revenue and reputation, and sends its customers into the open arms of competitors, who are only a click away. Load testing can help ensure online travel companies have the necessary capacity to cope with predicted periods of increased traffic, while website monitoring can ensure that user experience is unaffected by poor performance.”

Ends

Media contact: Dave Lafferty @ MC2 (0161 236 1352)