Report: More Travel Companies Take to the Web

If you think you're lately being lured to faraway destinations by bannerads for a wide variety of travel companies, you're not imagining things;more and more such firms are turned to the Web to acquire customers in thefirst quarter, according to a report issued Thursday by AdRelevance, a division of MediaMetrix.

If you think you’re lately being lured to faraway destinations by banner ads for a wide variety of travel companies, you’re not imagining things; more and more such firms are turned to the Web to acquire customers in the first quarter, according to a report issued Thursday by AdRelevance, a division of MediaMetrix (MMXI).

Total advertising impressions for travel companies lagged behind overall growth in the first quarter — increasing only three percent over fourth-quarter numbers, while the industry average was four percent.

At the same time, the number of companies grew dramatically. Forty-five percent more companies advertised in the first quarter than did in the fourth — an increase that AdRelevance attributes to advertising by resorts and tour companies.

“Although travel company advertising isn’t dominating the Web, the latest AdRelevance data suggests that online advertising for the industry is growing at a healthy rate,” said Charles Buchwalter, vice president of media research for the AdRelevance division of Media Metrix.

“The fact that so many new travel companies have started to advertise online gives us reason to believe that the industry’s Internet advertising activity will pick up even more in the upcoming quarters.”

Still, travel agent firms — like Travelscape.com, Expedia, Lowestfare.com, TRIP.com, and Preview Travel — accounted for most of the advertising impressions in the category, 80 percent. Airlines came in next, with 41 percent.

According to AdRelevance estimates, travel companies are spending a larger percentage of their ad budgets online. The company says four-and-a-half percent of their total ad budget were dedicated to online advertising, which was twice the percentage projected by the Internet Advertising Bureau.

Another interesting finding concerned consumer behavior — when people go to travel sites on the Web, they’re most likely to be shopping. Sites where folks can buy tickets outpaced travel content sites. Four out of the five top travel sites were shopping sites.

Top 10 Travel Advertisers Online by Impressions
Source: AdRelevance, a division of Media Metrix

Rank Travel Company Ad Impressions Share of Voice
1 Lowestfare.com 690,000,000 37 percent
2 Travelscape.com 240,000,000 14 percent
3 Hotel Reservation Network 180,000,000 10 percent
4 TRIP.com 110,000,000 6 percent
5 Preview Travel 91,000,000 5 percent
6 Yahoo 62,000,000 3 percent
7 Delta Airlines 52,000,000 3 percent
8 Prestige Travel 37,000,000 2 percent
9 Expedia 32,000,000 2 percent
10 Hertz 30,000,000 1 percent

Top 10 Travel Agent Advertisers Online by Impressions
Source: AdRelevance, a division of Media Metrix

Rank Travel Company Ad Impressions Share of Voice
1 Lowestfare.com 690,000,000 37 percent
2 Travelscape.com 240,000,000 14 percent
3 Hotel Reservation Network 180,000,000 10 percent
4 TRIP.com 110,000,000 6 percent
5 Preview Travel 91,000,000 5 percent
6 Yahoo 62,000,000 3 percent
7 Prestige Travel
37,000,000
3 percent
8 Expedia 32,000,000 2 percent
9 Cheap Tickets 25,000,000 2 percent
10 Resorts Exchange International 22,000,000 1 percent

Top 10 Non-Travel Agent Advertisers Online by Impressions
Source: AdRelevance, a division of Media Metrix

Rank Travel Company Ad Impressions Share of Voice
1 Delta Airlines 52,000,000 23 percent
2 Hertz 30,000,000 8 percent
3 Southwest Airlines 14,000,000 6 percent
4 American Airlines 11,000,000 5 percent
5 Best Western International 10,000,000 4 percent
6 United Airlines 7,500,000 3 percent
7 Hyatt 7,000,000 3 percent
8 Avis 6,700,000 3 percent
9 Bid4Vacations 6,400,000 3 percent
10 Marriot 6,100,000 3 percent

Top 10 Travel Sites by Unique Visitors
Source: Media Metrix, February 2000

Rank Travel Company Unique Visitors
Home (in thousands)
Unique Visitors
Work (in thousands)
1 Expedia.com Travel 3,358 2,477
2 Travelocity.com 3,007 2,582
3 Mapquest.com 2,973 2,106
4 Preview Travel 2,188 1,088
5 Southwest.com 1,117 906
6 AA.com 1,083 1,027
7 ITN.net 994 831
8 Lowestfare.com 924 682
9 UAL.com 879 776
10 Delta-Air.com 833 859

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