Travel Websites Losing Consumer Interest?
14th December 2007 by Kerry Dye
I’ve blogged before about how travel sites
are turning to SEO because they are in such a competitive industry. Therefore I was interested to
read that they have recently been slated for not giving the consumer what they want.
I firmly believe that the Internet was a
revelation for booking travel and it seems unlikely now that someone would turn
to a telephone booking service rather than a website for booking a flight. However,
Forrester Research’s data seems to indicate that they are somehow missing the
point in meeting consumer needs. Some of the problems (11 per cent of US online
leisure hotel guests say it’s more difficult to shop for travel online now than
when they started) are almost certainly down to the proliferation of choices on
the Internet, making the array of options more confusing.
What is more surprising is that 15 per cent
feel the Internet doesn’t help them
save money. Now originally, that was usually the driver for booking online; but
have those savings been brought in across the board, so there are no longer "online
only" discounts? And perhaps the savings for booking independent travel instead
of packages have gradually been eroded over time.
Still, I’m sure that this January will
prove to the busiest ever for travel websites, as it is traditionally their
strongest month. Vertical Leap has certainly been busy positioning our travel SEO
campaigns to take advantage of the post-Christmas period and our clients seem to
be looking forward to the extra traffic.
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