UK Internet visits to skiing and snowboarding websites up 18.5% year on year

news release


UK Internet visits to skiing and snowboarding websites up 18.5% year on year
Massive increase in searches for Scottish ski resorts as Britons look to take advantage of snow and cold weather at home


London, 22 January 2010 — Experian Hitwise, the leading online competitive intelligence service, today reveals that the recent heavy snow and cold weather has led to an increase in traffic to skiing and snowboarding websites. For the week ending 9^th January 2010, UK Internet visits to Snow Sports websites were up 18.5% on the same week in 2009.

“The cold weather and snow across the UK may have caused travel chaos in some parts of the country, but it has also served to remind people of the pleasures of winter sports,” commented Robin Goad, Research Director for Experian Hitwise. “There has been an 18.5% increase in visits to Snow Sports websites already this year, as well as 7.0% increase in ski- and snowboard related searches.”

“While most of the people planning a snow skiing or snowboarding holiday are considering the more traditional resorts in the Alps or North America, some are looking closer to home,” continued Goad. “UK Internet searches for Scottish Ski resorts have increased faster than any other so far this year, and searches for Glenshee have already quadrupled thanks to the recent weather.”

During the week ending January 9^th 2010, Glenshee was the most searched for ski resort by UK Internet users, followed by Cairngorm Searches for Cairngorm are up 60% year-on-year, while the second biggest increase in searches (after Glenshee) was for Nevis Range, also in Scotland. The rest of the top ten resort searches were all in the Alps, with Morzine the most popular overseas destination.”


Top ten most searched for ski resorts in the UK, week ending 09/01/10 (ranked by market share of searches within a portfolio of 549 ski resort related terms)

ENDS

Contact:

Haddon Mossley
+44 20 3042 4774
press.uk@hitwise.com


About Experian
Experian is the leading global information services company, providing data and analytical tools to clients in more than 65 countries. The company helps businesses to manage credit risk, prevent fraud, target marketing offers and automate decision making. Experian also helps individuals to check their credit report and credit score, and protect against identity theft.

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About Experian Hitwise
Experian Hitwise is the leading global online competitive intelligence service, helping clients protect and grow their market share through the application of internet measurement data. Experian Hitwise measures the largest sample of internet users - 25 million worldwide, including 8 million in the UK. This sample size allows clients to understand internet behaviour and competitive activity through data that is unmatched in timeliness, depth and breadth.

Experian Hitwise (FTS:EXPN), www.experianplc.com, operates in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Singapore, Canada and Brazil. More information about Experian Hitwise is available at www.hitwise.com/uk

For up-to-date analysis of online trends, please visit the Experian Hitwise research blog and the Experian Hitwise Data Centre.

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