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| Singapore Budget Airlines Stronghold, Destinations Searches Opportunity |
According to the latest Hitwise data, 3 of the top 5 websites in the Hitwise Aviation - Commercial Airlines industry belong to budget carriers, comprising 47.8% of visits for the week ending 21 October 2006 as visited by Singapore Internet users. These included Jetstar (www.jetstar.com), Tiger Airways (www.tigerairways.com) and AirAsia (www.airasia.com). While budget carriers have strengthened their position against traditional players such as Singapore Airlines (www.singaporeair.com), search terms for key destinations are not being captured to their full extent by airlines.
Travel Players
National carrier Singapore Airlines (www.singaporeair.com) maintained the market lead with 24.9% share week ending 21 October 2006, however was closely followed by Jetstar with 20.9% share. Jetstar has been an aggressive player in the region, particularly since it merged Jetstar Asia with Singapore competitor ValuAir in July 2005.
Cebu Pacific Air (www.cebupacificair.com), a low-cost carrier from the Philippines, has attracted significant online visits by users in the Singapore market after it commenced daily Manila-Singapore flights. Visits to the Cebu Pacific Air website increased by 65% between weeks ending 5 August 2006 and 21 October 2006. Cebu Pacific Air ranked at the #12 position in the Airlines industry for the week ending 21 October 2006.
Destinations Preferences
Hitwise Search Term data is able to give travel marketers an indication of where online users are seeking to travel. The most popular search term variation on 'flights to' by Singapore Internet users for the 24 weeks ending 21 October 2006 was 'flights to bali'. Other popular regional destinations included, 'flights to penang', 'flights to perth', and 'cheap flights to bangkok'. The most popular long-haul destination searched for was 'cheap flights singapore to london'.
Opportunities for Airlines on Search Term Traffic
Location-based search terms are a powerful marketing resource to inform airlines' route strategies, as well as presenting an opportunity for airlines to acquire more customers. Hitwise Search Term analysis reveals however that travel agencies rather than budget carriers are benefiting from this search traffic. For example, on the search phrase, 'flights to bali', travel agencies Last Minute (www.lastminute.com) and Zuji (www.zuji.com) appeared amongst the top websites to receive search traffic. Similarly, on the search term, 'bangkok', 7 out of the top 10 websites to receive traffic were Accommodation and Agencies websites, with Airlines notably missing. Targeting relevant search traffic is an opening for any of the budget carriers in the Singapore market to gain an online advantage.
Visits to the Travel industry comprised 2.3% of all visits by Singapore Internet users for the week ending 21 October 2006. Travel online usage in the Singapore market remained competitive against regional markets including 0.86% in Hong Kong and 2.2% in Australia.
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| 1. |
flights to bali |
0.55 |
| 2. |
flights to singapore |
0.55 |
| 3. |
flights to penang |
0.55 |
| 4. |
flights to perth |
0.47 |
| 5. |
cheap flights singapore to london |
0.47 |
| 6. |
cheap flights to singapore |
0.47 |
| 7. |
cheap flights to bangkok |
0.47 |
| 8. |
flights to hong kong |
0.39 |
| 9. |
flights to koh samui |
0.39 |
| 10. |
cheap flights to melbourne |
0.39 |
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| National Environment Agency - www.nea.gov.sg |
Position for week ending 23 September: 967
Position for week ending 21 October: 77
Positions jumped: 890
The website of Singapore's National Environment Agency was bombarded with visitors this month as a haze from fires in Borneo and Sumatra spread to Singapore, causing concern.
Singapore Internet users flocked to the NEA's website (www.nea.gov.sg) to read the latest updates on the haze, which caused flight cancellations and health warnings for the nation. The NEA website, which normally ranks at around #1,000 out of all websites visited by Singapore Internet users, jumped to #77 for the week ending 21 October. Traffic to the website peaked on Saturday 7 October, with the website reaching #32 out of all websites visited in Singapore.
The haze caused Singapore's PSI (Pollutants Standards Index) to reach 81%. The top search term for www.nea.gov.sg was 'psi' with more than 22% of visitors to the NEA website typing 'psi' into a search engine before visiting the website.
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| Lifestyle - Dating |
| This category includes any sites related to dating or relationships, including online advice columns and Internet personals services. The data below is based on All sites » Weekly rankings for the week ending 28/10/2006 » Ranks by 'Visits'. |
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|
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| 26.1% |
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of traffic to this category was directed at domestic sites.
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| 1. |
Computers and Internet |
67.7% |
| 2. |
Computers and Internet - Email Services |
37.4% |
| 3. |
Lifestyle |
11.1% |
| 4. |
Computers and Internet - Search Engines |
10.3% |
| 5. |
Entertainment |
8.5% |
| 6. |
Computers and Internet - Net Communities and Chat |
8.4% |
| 7. |
Computers and Internet - Portal Frontpages |
7.5% |
| 8. |
Lifestyle - Dating |
6.1% |
| 9. |
Business and Finance |
2.9% |
| 10. |
Lifestyle - Gay and Lesbian |
2.6% |
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|
|
|
| 1. |
Computers and Internet |
48.1% |
| 2. |
Lifestyle |
15.7% |
| 3. |
Computers and Internet - Email Services |
13.0% |
| 4. |
Computers and Internet - Net Communities and Chat |
10.8% |
| 5. |
Computers and Internet - Portal Frontpages |
10.4% |
| 6. |
Entertainment |
9.6% |
| 7. |
Lifestyle - Dating |
8.5% |
| 8. |
Computers and Internet - Search Engines |
6.4% |
| 9. |
Business and Finance |
5.9% |
| 10. |
Lifestyle - Gay and Lesbian |
4.7% |
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