February 2005
For increasing numbers of people, getting away from it all is more of a priority now than ever before. Search analysis from WebFinder.com, Thomson Directories search engine marketing service, has shown that searches for the term “Travel” during January topped the half a million mark at 510,000, compared with 35,195 searches for January 2004! This trend is also supported by recent research from the * National Statistics Office showing the numbers of UK residents travelling abroad last year increased to 63.5 million.

Karen Francis, Internet Channel Marketing Manager at Thomson Directories' said;

“This increase in the numbers of people searching for travel on WebFinder.com could be explained not only by the increasing numbers of holidays being taken abroad, but also the increasing use of the Internet as the first point of research for consumers. The traditional methods of arranging a holiday are changing. Now, large numbers of customers are turning to the Internet to search for, and book holidays. The Internet is an easy, quick and 24 hour resource for the user, allowing customers to search at any time of the day, for any type of holiday, wherever is most convenient for them.”

WebFinder.com is Thomson Directories' UK-focused search engine designed to make it simple for you to find websites offering products and services.

For further information please contact our press office.

*Statistics published on 7 January 05 in the Overseas Travel and Tourism First Release, National Statistics Online.