Travel sites suffer traffic slide as recession bites

LONDON - The tightening budgets of British households has led to a slide in the performance of travel operators online, with top travel-related companies except for Thomson Holidays suffering a decline in traffic over the last three years, recent statistics show.

Thomson: web traffic has grown over the past three years
Thomson: web traffic has grown over the past three years

Although Expedia remains the biggest site in the travel sector, ranked 8th, followed by easyJet and Ryanair, all three have slid down the rankings in the last three years, according to the IMRG-Hitwise Hot Shops List, a benchmark report published  every three years and ranks the top 100 UK e-commerce sites.

Expedia dropped from 7th to 8th, easyJet moved from 8th to 11th and Ryanair slid from 9th to 12th.

Thomson Holidays, ranked 13th, was the only travel retailer to see growth in traffic and retain its 2006 place.

The travel sector has come under pressure as the recession impacts families' holiday plans - Tui and Thomson Cook have reported sales are down  by between 12 and 14 per cent this year.

But traditional retailers in general have started performing better online. Four of the top ten online shopping destinations, - Argos, Tesco, Marks & Spencer and Next - have a high street presence while 28 high street stores are now ranked in the top 100 sites, up from 23 in 2006.

Clothing is the fastest growing e-commerce sector, with eight specialist clothing retailers including Next, Littlewoods and Top Shop featuring in the top 100 ecommerce sites.

James Roper, chief executive of IMRG said he expects e-commerce to continue to grow, as more UK retailers take advantage of the weak pound to attract overseas shoppers.

He said online merchants are best placed to rapidly respond to consumers' shifting sentiments, and demands as the recession continues to impact household spending habits.

Amazon is the most popular e-commerce site, a title it has retained since the study began in 2006.

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