‘17m British people to book 2007 trips online’ – TravelMole Guest Comment by Chris Nixon, director, Travelsupermarket, the price comparison site for travel

With ever increasing numbers of people in Britain gaining internet access, the inevitable shift towards researching and purchasing travel online is reaching record proportions. 

Nearly 27 million adults are now on line, with many enjoying fast broadband connections.

The recent 2007 Holiday Online Planning Report details a whopping 17 million Brits (or 63% of those planning a break) will purchase part of their main holiday this year on line. 49% will purchase part of a short break and up to 21 million will research their plans on line by using the vast array of information sources available to them at the click of their mouse.

However, many users are often confused by the sheer volume of sites available to look at and do not really know if they are getting the best deal on the plans they research. 

The report comments that many travel agents and tour operators do little to make their sites easy to use and are often unmemorable (see previous TravelMole story). 

Users find hit hard and confusing to compare products suitable for their needs. Users are often bypassing traditional booking methods for items such as flights, airport parking, car rental and hotels as the high street concentrates on selling holidays from their parent companies. 

The internet gives them the deals they are looking for, at the lowest prices. Full holidays are already beginning to make this shift towards internet booking too as customers become ever more demanding.

Travelsupermarket was developed to provide the travel hungry user with a one stop shop to search flights, hotels, car rental and package holidays by bringing together all the leading brands such as Opodo, E-Bookers, British Airways, Tui, Thomas Cook and First Choice, as well as many smaller and niche operators into one search. 

By using the technology of meta search engines we can help steer the user through the products available, allowing them to compare products by price as well as by detail such as flights times, airline details, hotel reviews, car details and brochure information. 

In order to help users to find their way to our site, we work hard at ensuring our product is well placed in search terms, both natural and managed so that we appear in front of the user. 

This is vital to the success of our brand and for the success of the suppliers that we feature, who benefit from the users we direct to them. 

With our suppliers all looking for more ways we can deliver traffic to their own sites, we work closely with them to ensure that all information we feature is up to date and accurate, giving the user a quality experience and the supplier a high conversion. 

The success we are delivering is driving more and more suppliers to want to work with us in helping them to grow their business and deliver customers to their on line site.

We back this with above the line advertising, including our current high profile TV campaign, and regular communication with our loyal and expanding customer database.  Our Fare Alert service keeps customers up to date with the latest news and travel tips, thus re-enforcing the brand and the power that our site gives to the consumer in helping to make choices. 

Hitwise reported Travelsupermarket.com showing as the 8th most searched travel site within the travel agency sector in the UK for the end of 2006 and we anticipate this position to rise even more dramatically at the beginning of 2007, proving that the user finds our services valuable in making their choice.