Does a dramatic reduction in outbound traffic from online travel agency sites mean they are getting stickier or are they perhaps consciously retaliating against hotel-chain websites for direct-booking campaigns? Or is something else up?
These sites may have more traffic than in 2013 but they shouldn't pop the champagne just yet. Many of them still don't give users enough reason to visit the site or stay for very long. Better content and more actionable information could help that considerably.
The big question for these low cost airlines: Can they ever become effective at diversification beyond their own main product. How many people actually end up buying these services beyond air?
2014 will be an interesting year to watch from traffic perspective. While Priceline Group has a huge lead, Expedia and Tripadvisor family will continue to duke it out.
For all the noise tourism boards try to create with flashy TV ad campaigns and social media efforts, are they forgetting to put their resources behind online marketing 101? This data certainly suggests so.