Online Office Workers Plan Memorial Day Travel From the Office Nielsen//NetRatings reports that office workers flocked online to make Memorial Day travel plans, during the week ending May 23. More than 19 million unique visitors, or 41 percent of active online office workers, visited an online travel site at work last week. "Office workers are taking time out of their workday to book holiday plans. For millions of Americans traveling during Memorial Day weekend, travel sites serve as their primary tool for vacation planning," said Ken Cassar, director of strategic analysis, Nielsen//NetRatings. Hotel site Marriot jumped 76 percent to more than 1.2 million unique visitors, as compared to 698,000 visitors during the previous week. Hilton surged 56 percent. Nearly 2.8 million visitors visited Orbitz.com, increasing 39 percent. TripAdvisor saw 798,000 unique visitors, rising 24 percent week-over-week. Rounding out the top ten fastest growing. Fastest Growing Travel Sites, Week Ending May 23 (U.S., Work)5/16 Unique Audience (000)5/23 Unique Audience (000) % Growth 1. Marriott 698 1,231 76% 2. Hilton 460 718 56% 3. Yahoo! Travel 715 1,075 50% 4. Travelocity 1,992 2,969 49% 5. AOL Travel 644 911 41% 6. Orbitz.com 1,980 2,757 39% 7. TripAdvisor 643 798 24% 8. American Airlines 961 1,183 23% 9. MSN Maps & Directions 548 646 18% 10. Expedia 2,983 3,279 10% Source: Nielsen//NetRatings, May 2004 Additional Nielsen//NetRatings' Week on the Web: - The U.S. Department of Energy Web site jumped 32 percent at home during the week ending May 23, according to Nielsen//NetRatings, as gas prices continued to rise. The site attracted 345,000 unique visitors with 44 percent of the site's audience visiting the fuel economy page. - Traffic to ABC Primetime rose 24 percent at home to 553,000 unique viewers, during the week ending May 23, as the season finale of The Bachelor aired last Wednesday. Thirty-six percent of the visitors logged onto pages featuring The Bachelor to view the photo gallery and recaps of past episodes.