Australia

Experian Hitwise revealed the most popular travel websites in Australia for the week ending August 14 2010 in the categories Agencies; Destinations and Accommodation; Airlines and travel search terms.

Top Agency websites in Australia for the week ending August  142010 by % of visits:
1. Webjet Australia (www.webjet.com.au): 14.80% (previously ranked 1^st)
2. Flight Centre (www.flightcentre.com.au):  8.98% (2nd)
3. Expedia Australia (www.expedia.com.au): 7.65% (3rd)

Top Destinations and Accommodation websites in Australia for the week ending August 14 2010 by % of visits:
1. Wotif.com (www.wotif.com): 7.07% (previously ranked 1^st)
2. TripAdvisor (www.tripadvisor.com): 4.72% (2^nd)
3. Booking.com (www.booking.com/): 2.73% (3^rd)

Top Airline websites in Australia for the week ending August 14 2010 by % of visits:
1. Jetstar Airways (www.jetstar.com): 23.18% (3^rd)
Qantas Airways (www.qantas.com.au): 19.97% (previously ranked 1^st)
3. Virgin Blue (www.virginblue.com.au): 17.86% (2^nd)

Top Travel search terms websites in Australia for the week ending August 14 2010 by % of clicks:
1. google maps: 1.52% (previously ranked 1^st)
2. jetstar: 1.00% (2nd)
3. virgin blue: 0.97% (3rd)

(tnooz - talking travel tech, August 2010)

Experian Hitwise revealed the most popular travel websites in Australia for the week ending June 5 2010 in the categories Agencies; Destinations and Accommodation, Airlines as well as travel search terms.

Top Agencies websites in Australia for the week ending June 5 2010 by % of visits:
1. Webjet Australia (www.webjet.com.au): 13.10% (previously ranked 1^st)
2. Flight Centre (www.flightcentre.com.au): 10.18% (2^nd)
3. Expedia Australia (www.expedia.com.au): 6.48% (3^rd)

Top Destinations and Accommodation websites in Australia for the week ending June 5 2010 by % of visits:
1. Wotif.com (www.wotif.com): 6.57% (previously ranked 1^st)
2. TripAdvisor (www.tripadvisor.com): 4.73% (2^nd)
3. Totaltravel.com (www.totaltravel.com): 2.77% (3^rd)

Top Airlines websites in Australia for the week ending June 5 2010 by % of visits:
1. Qantas Airways (www.qantas.com.au): 21.13% (previously ranked 1^st)
2. Virgin Blue (www.virginblue.com.au): 19.70% (2^nd)
3. Jetstar Airways (www.jetstar.com): 18.88% (3^rd)

Top travel search term by % of clicks for the week ending June 5 2010 by % of visits:
1. google maps: 1.39% (previously ranked 1^st)
2. virgin blue: 1.05% (2^nd)
3. jetstar: 0.99% (3^rd)

(tnooz - talking travel tech, June 2010)

More than 16.5 million unique visitors have experienced australia.com (version four) in its first year. Tourism Australia's primary consumer online platform, australia.com is now available in ten languages with more to follow next year.

Since the launch 12 months ago, coinciding with the international roll out of the Come Walkabout campaign, the new website has attracted a record number of unique visitors and a prestigious People's Voice Webby Award.

australia.com has now doubled in size and contains over 220 pages of motivational destination content and feature articles to entice consumers to holiday in Australia. More than 26,000 tourism products are on the site via the Australian Tourism Data Warehouse and 57 ‘journeys' including adventure, coastal, romance, outback, nature and Indigenous experiences have been profiled. (Tourism Australia newsletter - essentials: tourism info you need 25/11/09, November 2009)

Australia's Minister for Tourism Martin Ferguson welcomed the launch of the Tropical North Queensland website in November 2009, which forms part of a long term tourism strategy to reposition the region.

The website is just one part of the Australian Government's $4 million New Destination Road Map for Tropical North Queensland announced in August 2008, following the withdrawal of air services from Japan. The Road Map aims to reposition the region in the long term, promote new tourism experiences and encourage flexibility in the tourism industry to adapt to changing economic conditions and consumer trends. (Tourism Australia newsletter - essentials: tourism info you need 18/11/09, November 2009)

Tourism Australia continues to inspire the youth market, encouraging British 18 to 30 year olds to take a working holiday in Australia. An online campaign in September and October drives consumers to www.australia.com/workingholiday and Tourism Australia's new youth targeted Facebook page www.facebook.com/australianworkingholiday.

The Facebook page enables young people to share their own real-life Aussie gap year experiences with those thinking of spending their gap year in Australia. The page has over 10,300 fans already and features an application that allows users to design their own virtual Aussie adventure and produce a motivational photo album that can be shared with friends. The youth activity is an ongoing campaign reaching over 5.8 million young experience seekers throughout 2009 and 2010. The next major media burst will take place in March and April 2010. (Tourism Australia Newsletter - essentials: tourism info you need 21/10/09, October 2009)

Social networking is helping to get more travellers talking and ‘tweeting' about Australia with Tourism Australia's presence on Facebook, and more recently Twitter, creating strong word-of-mouth advocacy. Tourism Australia has recently integrated Twitter followers' comments directly onto its Facebook page.

Tourism Australia's Managing Director, Geoff Buckley said social media is an effective way for people to connect instantly and share their love of Australia - whether they are locals or visitors.

Australians are also proving to be strong advocates for their country on Facebook and Twitter - often providing advice and tips to travellers, whether they are planning on visiting or are already there. 

Launched in March 2009, www.twitter.com/SeeAustralia has conversations about Australia between two audiences and two platforms. It acts as a conduit for fans and followers to "meet and talk".

Tourism Australia's activities on Twitter and Facebook are getting people to share their experiences of Australia with a community of travellers who are passionate about our country. This word-of-mouth is powerful in convincing people they should holiday here, according to Mr Buckley said. (Tourism Australia Newsletter - essentials: tourism info you need, 26 June 2009, June 2009)

The Hitwise Australia Online Performance Awards acknowledge excellence in online performance, by recognising the most visited websites in Australia, across over 100 industries. It is based on the internet usage of approximately 3 million Australians visiting over 140,000 Australian websites throughout 2008.

The winners in the travel industry were:
- Agencies: www.webjet.com.au
- Cruises: www.pocruises.com.au
- Destinations and Accommodation: www.wotif.com
- Maps: maps.google.com.au
- Transport: www.qantas.com.au
(Hitwise, March 2009)

The number of Brits heading to Australia on a Working Holiday Visa is 20% higher than 12 months ago, according to the latest statistics from the Australian Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC). Between July and December 2008, 20,851 Working Holiday Visas were granted, compared to 17,327 that were issued in the same six months in 2007.

The rise has been partly attributed to campaigns with MySpace and Bebo. More than 6,000 people clicked through from the MySpace Australia page to the Australian immigration website (May - September 08), and there have been more than 3 million views to date of ‘The Gap Year' videos that included specific Working Holiday Visa messaging on Bebo.

Tourism Australia UK/Europe says that these campaigns are getting through with their target audience and the results are showing in the increased applications for, and grants of, the Australian Working Holiday Visa.  Tourism Australia has been investing in the promotion of the visa for 12 months now, so it is encouraging to see more Brits are heading to Australia to experience the Aussie lifestyle for an extended period on the back of their marketing campaign. (Travelmole, February 2009)

Traveller numbers have declined in Australia, but the proportion of online bookings has grown sharply, increasing by 26%. Tim Russell, managing director of Amadeus Australia and New Zealand, said that online travel agencies are benefiting from the current economic environment, with travellers believing that the best prices can be found online. (TravelMole, June 2009)

Expedia has launched a new one-minute commercial in Australian and New Zealand which officially introduces Expedia to Australian and New Zealand's travellers, according to a report by campaignbrief.com.

Expedia is seeking to break the mould with travellers and prove that it really does matter where they book.  Louise Crompton, marketing manager for Expedia.com.au and Expedia.co.nz said that they want to be the single best place for Australians and New Zealanders to book travel.

The commercial highlights the supremacy of the online travel company. The commercial shares that over 190,000 hotels beds are booked everyday by Expedia, suggesting that consumers should "book with the world's largest online travel company". (eyefortravel, May 2010)

Tourism Australia, the NTO for Australia, and travel search engine Wego.com have launched Great Australian Roadtrips in Singapore.

Wego.com features 14 Great Australian Roadtrips and highlights the must do's and sees along the Roadtrips on the micro-site. It worked closely with Tourism Australia and its State Tourism offices to develop the list of must-dos on each journey. The travel search engine has focused on creating a user friendly profile to meet "the adventurous consumer's budget and needs". There are suggested itineraries for each Roadtrip and access to a range of airfares, accommodation and restaurants.

User-generated content is also featured on the site allowing those who have gone before to share their personal highlights of each Roadtrip route.

The Great Australian Roadtrips micro-site can be viewed at www.wego.com/feature/australia. (EyeForTravel, May 2009)

gapyear.com has partnered with Northern Territory Tourism to release two online guides and a web marketing campaign aimed at Gap Year and backpacker travel to Australia.  The guides aim to capitalise on the growth of the resilient independent travel and backpacker markets.

The guides are downloadable from gapyear.com and are designed to help independent travellers research and plan their Gap Year trip to Kakadu National Park and the Northern Territory. (EyeForTravel , March 2009)