Airline sites are growing faster than travel sites overall and are even narrowing the lead of online travel agencies. According to Media Metrix ratings data from February 2000 and February 2001,
unique visitors to all travel sites increased 23.5%, from 24.4 million to 30.1 million. Unique visitors to airline websites increased 26.1%, from 8.2 million to 10.4 million, while visitors to online
travel agencies increased 7%, from 14.4 million to 15.4 million. According to Media Metrix ratings data, the top airline sites were Southwest Airlines with 2.9 million unique visitors in February
2001, followed by United Airlines and American Airlines with 2.5 million and 2.4 million unique visitors. From February 2000 to February 2001 these sites had traffic increases of 19.8%, 40.6% and
126.2%, respectively. In contrast, the top online travel agencies were Travelocity with 6.9 million unique visitors in February 2001, followed by Expedia Travel and Priceline with 6.8 million and
3.0 million unique visitors. Compared to February 2000, Travelocity was down 3%, Expedia was up 10.2% and Priceline was down 21.9%. Travel agencies, which accounted for 90% of the online ad
impressions served by the travel industry in February 2000, decreased their share of impressions to 63 percent in February 2001, according to AdRelevance, a division of Jupiter Media Metrix. Suppliers
in the airline, destination and lodging industries, meanwhile increased their share of online ad impressions from 10% to 22%.
- Anya Khait
