Travel Websites Attract 23% More European Women In February 2005
Travel websites attracted 2.2 million more European women in February 2005 compared to the same period last year, enjoying a 23% year on year increase, according to new data released by internet research specialists Nielsen//NetRatings.
Italy led the way with a massive 50% rise in female users, followed by Switzerland with a 41% increase, and Germany with a rise of 35%. The UK and Sweden both cited an increase of 2%.
The top travel site in Europe in February 2005 was Expedia with 4.4 million unique users and a 42.4% female user share equating to a female audience of 1.88 million. Ebookers was shown to have the highest percentage of women visitors at 51.0%, but attracted 1.2 million unique users during February, giving a female audience of 650,000, much lower than Expedia in real terms.
The research looked at the contribution that individual countries audiences made to the overall pan-European audience of the top European online travel brands. Expedia was evenly matched with Lastminute.com in terms of audience in the UK, France and Italy, but attracts more German users than Lastminute.com.
Commenting on the research, Gabrielle Prior, European internet analyst said: “Travel is one of the most successful categories on the internet. The ability to research destinations and prices, check availability and book travel has revolutionised the travel agency business across the region.”
She continued: “Our past research has shown that women value the speed and convenience of online shopping, and it seems this trend also extends to researching and booking travel online. Over the last year the growth in the number of women using the sites has increased and we would expect this trend to continues we have seen in the US.”
Research published earlier in the year by Hitwise forecast the UK online travel sector to reach 4.9% market share in January. UK visits to internet travel sites were up 14% year on year, with the first week of January claiming 4.71% of all visits (see UK Online Travel To Equal Best Ever Month).
