The European online travel market will be valued at more than E20 billion by 2006, according to a new report from Jupiter MMXI, with the UK currently leading the way with almost six million unique visitors in January 2002.
Europeans spent on average 26 minutes on travel sites in January 2002. Britons spent the most amount of time, at 37.4 minutes per visitor per month on average; the Swiss spent the least amount of time at an average of 17.9 minutes in January 2002.
Lastminute.com is the most popular travel site in the UK, with 849,000 unique visitors last month. Across Europe, Bahn.de takes the top spot, with 2.1 million unique visitors in January.
Top 10 Travel Sites in the UK, January 2002 | |||
UK, at home panel | Unique visitors (000) | Digital media reach % | |
Total Digital Media | 16,152 | 100 | |
Travel | 5,886 | 36.4% | |
1 | Lastminute.com | 849 | 5.3% |
2 | Expedia.co.uk | 844 | 5.2% |
3 | Easyjet.com | 835 | 5.2% |
4 | Go-Fly.com | 624 | 3.9% |
5 | BritishAirways.com | 566 | 3.5% |
6 | RyanAir.com | 556 | 3.4% |
7 | Ebookers.com | 475 | 2.9% |
8 | TheTrainline.com | 420 | 2.6% |
9 | OTC-UK.com | 389 | 2.4% |
10 | BookRyanAir.com | 347 | 2.1% |
Source: Jupiter MMXI, 14.02.02 |
Top 10 Travel Sites in Europe, January 2002 | |||
Europe, at home panel | Unique visitors (000) | Digital media reach % | |
Total Digital Media | 64,795 | 100 | |
Rank | Travel | 19,607 | 30.30% |
1 | Bahn.de | 2,120 | 3.3% |
2 | Lastminute.com | 1,718 | 2.7% |
3 | Easyjet.com | 999 | 1.5% |
4 | TrenItalia.com | 996 | 1.5% |
5 | RyanAir.com | 926 | 1.4% |
6 | Expedia.co.uk | 922 | 1.4% |
7 | Voyages-SNCF.com | 818 | 1.3% |
8 | Go-Fly.com | 669 | 1.0% |
9 | BritishAirways.com | 640 | 1.0% |
10 | Expedia.com | 636 | 1.0% |
Source: Jupiter MMXI, 14.02.02 |
“Most travel sites currently fail to help visitors sufficiently in their decision-making process and miss an opportunity to turn browsers into online shoppers. Once visitors need advice and interaction Jupiter MMXI has found that they return to the offline world, with an increased level of customer service for potential buyers,” the report warns travel site operators.