Travel sites split Destinations equally popular with surfers
Numerous Web sites offer all sorts of travel information and services. In this, we focused on Web sites offering destination travel suggestions and information. (We avoided sites whose main purpose is to book reservations and flights, because they’d be impractical for our 388 panelists to judge.)
Travelocity offers facts on a wide number of destinations. The Spotlight blankets a single destination with half a dozen articles, from events to what to pack. There’s a mapping service, a currency calculator, and bulletin boards for opinions and advice. (Panelists were told to disregard the site’s SABRE airline and hotel booking services when judging.)
Travel Channel Online also offers bulletin boards and chat, and a twice-a-month spotlight on a destination. Then it adds what it claims are 26,000 Web links to travel-information sites, searchable or categorized; programming schedules for the cable TV channel; guides for golfers and skiers; articles from college students across the country; columnists; and photo galleries.
Epicurious Travel, Conde Nast Traveler’s site, has 800-city searchable weather reports; a “traveler’s bookshelf” with recommended reading; Fodor’s B&B Finder and (a few) City Files; and magazine-culled feature areas on romantic getaways and great escapes.
Web surfers are often willing to trade fewer photos for faster access, but this might be one group in which pictures are worth the wait. Alex Schaffer, 36, of Delano, Calif., liked Travelocity’s images: “If you’re going to look at a travel site, you’re probably most interested in dreaming about your vacation.”
Panelist Mary Ann Lidrbauch, of Beverly, Mass., travels a lot for work, but she’d consider using these sites for vacations: “They piqued my interest; the next time I travel, I might look on the Web.”
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