The terrorist attacks of September 11th certainly put a dent in the coffers of the airline industry. Fewer people wanted to fly and the number of visitors to internet travel sites plummeted. But, within three weeks of the attacks, traffic to the main travel sites - Expedia, Orbitz and Travelocity - had returned to pre-attack levels.
Research from Ottawa-based WebHancer, a company that measures internet performance, shows that traffic to these travel sites was just 57 per cent of normal levels in the days following the attacks. By October 1st and 2nd, traffic was 104 per cent of pre-September 11th levels and WebHancer says this was probably because many airline carriers began to offer special fares to increase capacity on flights.
It seems consumers are not only window shopping but also booking online and that is good news for travel-specific websites.
Despite initial doom and gloom, some companies are bucking the trend and opening travel businesses on the Web. Cruisedirect.com, an international voyager company based in Montclair, New Jersey, is a new online travel venture. Mr John Maguire, president and chief executive, said the timing could have been better when the company launched on September 10th. He previously worked on the travel channel at America Online and also headed up the online ventures at the New York Times and NBC.
"Travel is suited to the Web," Mr Maguire said. At cruisedirect.com, someone can book a cruise within six steps. The site links to the computer systems of nine cruise lines that run 72 of the largest cruise liners in the world so anyone can see in real-time what destinations are available. They can even check out sailing routes, a particular ship, its decks and cabins, and arrange their seating for dinner.
The site also sells luggage, apparel and travel insurance. Anyone with questions can call one of four customer service representatives at a toll-free number or to chat online. If someone is not available, the site will open an e-mail form so the user can send a question.
Cruisedirect.com was going to do a marketing blitz two weeks after the launch. However, because of the terrorist attacks, this has been pushed back to November 15th.
"There was a huge drop-off after September 11th," Mr Maguire said. "But, now it's right back up to where people expected it to be."
Last year, $12 billion (€13.5 billion) or 5 per cent of all travel was booked online. That figure is expected to jump to $32 billion, or 15 per cent, by 2005.
According to Reuters, $1.1 billion was spent in online travel in September, 44 per cent greater than September 2000.
"Online travel is growing in leaps and bounds," Mr Maguire said. "And the cruise industry is growing the fastest."
About seven million people will sail on cruise ships this year. His competitors include cruise411.com and cruise.com.
Mr Maguire expects his site to receive 350,000 visitors the first year and to carry out 4,080 transactions. His aim, eventually, is to set up other sites, say, for corporate jets and charter boats.
Another online venture that began business on October 9th is taking bookings online for air travel between the United States and Ireland. Irish Continental Group, which owns Irish Ferries, set up a US division of wannabeinireland.com, which it already offers in Britain.
The site offers the consumer comparison shopping between the four airlines that fly to Ireland from the US - Aer Lingus, Delta, Continental and United (via London to Dublin and Belfast). Although market conditions could be better, "I've seen a fair amount of business coming through", said Mr Niall Swan, formerly of localireland, who is marketing director for wannabeinireland.com USA. "It's mostly from the ethnic market. Aer Lingus got fares moving and Continental matched their offers," he said.
The company is sharing office space with a travel agency on Madison Avenue and that agency issues airline tickets to the site's customers within two or three days. Wannabe makes money from each transaction.
Yet another new travel company is Absolutely Golf & Travel in Stamford, Connecticut, which sells golf holidays to Ireland, Scotland and Portugal. Although it is not an online site, it expects to do some of its business on the Web in the future.
Ms Sandra Jessen, vice-president, said: "It's refreshing to see a company set up instead of shut down."
Two groups that had booked golf holidays to Ireland with the company cancelled in mid-September and early October. Yet, Ms Jessen said: "People intend to travel next year."
She believes start-ups are not as badly hit in the current climate as traditional travel agents.
"We're not planning to have much money in our first year," she said, "and we've budgeted to spend our money wisely."
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