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According to Internet research company NetValue, the number of visitors to travel sites in Britain increased by over 150,000 from the end of August to the end of September. Jannie Cahill, NetValue's marketing manager, told ElectricNews.Net that user numbers at such sites usually fall during that time. "Over the last couple of years there has been a seasonal dip in visitor figures, but September, 2001, has bucked the trend," she commented.
Cahill added that the increase was mainly due to a rise in users of the sites of budget airlines such as Ryanair and easyJet. Ryanair saw its numbers jump by 127,000 for September to 300,000, while easyJet's visitor figures went from 355,000 in August to 478,000.
The number of people actually using UK travel Web sites to purchase flights in September remained a consistent 20 percent of total visitors, according to NetValue.
Cahill said that it was too early to say whether the events of 11 September had influenced its latest batch of results. "October's figures will be very telling as to whether people are still going to use the Internet to research and book travel," she said.
However, according to NetValue, travel Web sites based in France and Germany saw sharp declines in visitors throughout September. In France, visitors were down by 326,000 and in Germany they fell by 571,000. Cahill said that these falls might have been due to a combination of the usual seasonal dip and reluctance among people in those countries to fly following 11 September.
It is expected that the terrorist attacks in the US will have a dramatic impact on the number of people flying transatlantic routes. But, Niall Swan, director of the American version of travel Web site Wannabeinireland.com, remains convinced that despite the current climate, people are still prepared to travel from the US to Ireland and vice versa.
Launched this month by the Irish Continental Group, which owns Irish Ferries, Wannabeinireland.com USA is aimed at Irish people living in America and Irish-Americans, and allows them to book flights, lodgings and car-rental in Ireland on-line.
"Even in the current circumstances, Irish people are travelling back and forth to the US, so a solid market still exists in these difficult times," said Swan.
Wannabeinireland.com USA offers flights from Aer Lingus, Continental, and Delta, and said it has 5,000 different lodgings available including castles, farmhouses, hotels and B&Bs.
NetValue can be found at http://www.netvalue.com.
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