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Hitwise Intelligence - Sandra Hanchard - Asia Pacific

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Maps and Cheap Cruises Growing Online in Australia

February 23, 2009

Travel - Maps was the fastest growing travel sector in Australia during January 2009, with visits increasing 39.3% year-on-year according to Hitwise. It was also one of the fastest growing industries amongst all websites.

Google Maps (.com and .com.au) directly contributed to the growth of the Maps industry, jumping from a combined market share in visits of 44.7% in January 2008 to 74.7% in January 2009. 'Google Maps' was also the fastest moving search term driving traffic to the Travel industry year-on-year in January 2009, highlighting increasing consumer awareness of the service.

The launch of Street View had a big impact on visits to Maps in August 2008, with the enhanced mapping service receiving significant traffic referrals from major news publishers. Since August 2008, the Maps industry has increased and consolidated its lead over visits to Travel – Agencies. Maps websites attracted 1.4x more visits than Agencies in January 2009.

The significant growth in visits to the Maps industry is a signal to all businesses dependent on tourism that their contact information needs to be well-optimised on search for mapping services.

Cruises Industry Defies Downturn

Another significant trend in the travel industry in Australia was growth to the Travel - Cruises industry of 15.2% year-on-year in January 2009. Heather Hopkins wrote last year about searches for cruise deals soaring in the US downturn market, and we're seeing a similar pattern in Australia. Searches that include 'cheap cruises', increased by 20% comparing the 4 weeks ending 31 January 2009 against the same time period last year. Many of the recent search variations on 'cheap cruises' included local destinations, such as Cairns, Perth and the Whitsundays. Searches on locations further abroad included the Mediterranean, Pacific Islands and Africa.

The top 10 websites in the Cruises industry all contributed to industry growth, with visits to the two fastest-moving players, Princess Cruises and VactionsToGo.com increasing by 104.2% and 69.6% respectively against all sites (yoy in Jan 09). P&O Cruises Australia was the leading site in January 2009 with 14.81% market share of visits, while Australian cruises aggregators, Ozcruising and Best Cruises also performed strongly ranking at 4th and 5th position respectively.

General travel agencies should consider giving prominence to deals for cruises on their websites given the increased interest by Australian consumers and significant competition by cruises specialists.

Posted by Sandra Hanchard at 10:16 AM | (0) | (0)
In Categories Cruises | Maps | Travel