The online travel industry is relying less on seasonal peaks to boost sales, according to new research from Hitwise.
Traditionally, travel always been a very seasonal industry online. Each year summer and winter holidays produce two clear and defined periods of online activity.
According to Hitwise data, each year the two online peaks in traffic occur in January and July.
The January peak represents bookings for winter sun and ski holidays along with some early bookings for summer holidays whilst the July peak is for last minute summer holiday bookings.
However, by looking at this same data in a different format we can see that the seasonal peaks in travel are slowly being eroded year-on-year.
The bar chart below groups visits to the travel industry by month over the last three years.
Hiwise attributed this decline in the industry gradually becoming less reliant on its peak months and seasonality is starting to broaden over a series of months rather than focusing on two key points in the year.
If this trend continues then we will see January and July become less significant for travel traffic but more visits to travel websites come in the surrounding months.
Travel brands are going to have to adapt their digital strategies to accommodate these shifting trends, with more focus on capturing customers in December, May and June especially.
Source: www.hitwise.com
