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One of the major online competitive intelligence service firms owned by Experian company, Hitwise, recently unveiled that the Internet searches for flights in the United Kingdom registered a significant fall over the last 12 month, and namely they fell by 42 percent. No doubt that January represents the most important month for the travel industry mainly because Christmas has just passed and consumers has to think about booking their summer holidays. However, with the global economic crisis people try be cautious when booking flights to other countries. The economic downturn led to the weakening of the British pound and UK customers, just like customers from other European countries, are considering visiting cheaper destinations such as Turkey, North Africa or simply staying at home for the holidays instead of visiting the United States or the Eurozone.

Internet searches for flights in the UK registered a 58 percent increase between December 27, 2008 and January 3, 2009. However, they fell by 42.2 percent if compared to the same post-Christmas period a year ago (when the week ended on January 5, 2008). The most significant fall was registered in the United States, where the annual Internet searches for flights went down by 52.2 percent. Searches for flights to the countries of the Eurozone fell by 44.8 percent, while Internet searches for flights to the United Kingdom  and other countries fell as well but at a lower rate.
 Below there is a figure representing the change in the Internet searches for flights to certain geographical areas in the period between January 5, 2008 and January 3, 2009:
United States: -52.2%
Countries from the Eurozone: -44.8%
Global average: -42.4%
Rest of the world: -34.4%
 UK Domestic: -32.7%

"It looks like the weak pound is putting people off flying to the Eurozone and the USA, and they are looking at destinations with more favorable exchange rates instead," explained Robin Goad, who holds the position of Director of Research at Hitwise.

Over the last 12 months the Internet searches for flights registered significant falls in a number of other European countries that once proved to be the most popular tourist destinations, including France (by 45.4 percent), Spain (by 42.8 percent), Portugal (by 41.7 percent) and Italy (by 41.2 percent).

Below are the numbers representing the changes that occurred in Internet searches in UK for flights to some of the most popular tourist destinations in the period between January 5, 2008 and January 3, 2009:
Turkey: -24.6%
Dubai: -27.1%
Thailand: -32.2%
Australia: -32.8%
South Africa: -32.9%
Caribbean: -34.6%
Italy: -41.2%
Portugal: -41.7%
Spain: -42.8%
France: -45.4%

From the most popular tourist destinations among Britons, the smallest fall in Internet searches for flights registered Turkey. Over the last 12 months the searches fell by 24.6 percent, while the average decline for all destinations was 42.4 percent. Turkey was the second popular non-European and non-American destination among British tourists, surpassing Canada and Thailand. Robin Goad expressed his idea regarding the Internet searches for flights saying that British Internet users are becoming more complicated in what concerns search for holidays in Turkey.

"Increasingly they are searching for particular towns and resorts, such as Dalaman, Bodrum and Antalya, rather than generic terms like 'flights to Turkey' or 'Turkish holidays. This is similar to the way people search for Spanish or Portuguese holidays, and illustrates how Turkey has become a mainstream destination for British holiday makers", said Robin Goad. 

The number one non-Euro/Dollar destination among tourists from UK remains Australia with about 25 percent of all Internet searches for flights to countries outside UK, United States and Eurozone. Over the last 12 months Internet searches for flights to the continent registered a 32.85 percent fall. This figure represents, however, a lower rate than for a lot of other destinations. A great influence on the number of tourists to Australia had the movie "Australia" staring Nicole Kidman.

Emirates, which is an airline based in Dubai, for the week ending January 5, 2008 was included 11^th in Hitwise's Commercial Airlines category, which is 6 points up from the correspondent week in 2008. Over the last 12 months Internet searches for flights increased among Britons for only five major destinations: Norway, Denmark, Brazil, Morocco and Cuba. Robin Goad outlined that two regions that benefited from the fall of the British pound against the Euro are Scandinavia and inexpensive sunshine destinations. Traveling to Scandinavian countries might still be expensive if considering global standards, but their cost for British tourists in relative terms fell if compared to other European destinations. In regard to warmer destinations the fall of the British pound motivates people to search further for a place for bargains, with destinations such as Brazil, Morocco, Cuba, Kenya and India, all of them reaching higher rankings over the last 12 months.

The most significant increases and decreases in Internet flight searches in the period between January 5, 2008 and January 3, 2009:
1. Norway +30.9%
2. Denmark +20.3%
3. Brazil +19.5%
4. Morocco +2.1%
5. Cuba +1.2%
6. Kenya -7.8%
7. India -12.7%
8. China -12.8%
9. Hungary -13.7%
10. Singapore  -14.6%

Hitwise represents an internet monitor that gathers information straight from the ISP networks. It groups the total usage data into commercial verticals such as travel, finance and retail. Clients pay Hitwise to be able to gain access to information for their vertical.

Hitwise is owned by Experian, which is a global credit information group that operates in 36 countries. It has about 15,500 employees. The company's corporate headquarters are located in Dublin, Ireland and its operational headquarters are based in Nottingham, England and Costa Mesa, California, U.S..