THE overwhelming majority
of users who log on to
online travel agencies
are there to gather as much
information as they can and
then leave – without booking.
This is according to US
remarketing specialist,
SaleCycle, which analysed
100 global travel brands
in 2014 and found travel
booking abandonment to be
as high as 81%. What’s more,
booking abandonment proved
highest among online travel
agents (OTAs) at 89,1%.
Remarketing is a feature that
lets a company reach people
who have previously visited
their site.
Head of search and
conversion for Travelstart,
Priya Unger, says the
statistics are an accurate
reection of the booking
abandonment challenges
faced by OTAs in South Africa.
“This is a signicant issue for
OTAs in general. Consumers
are highly connected, which
means they compare prices a
great deal more than they’ve
ever done before, especially
when dealing with high-value
items such as ights.”
FlightSite also experiences
considerable drop-off rates
but says its highest dropoff
rate is typically between
the search page and its
results page, rather than
between the check-out and
conrmation pages, where
the most useful booking
information is found.
“Tracking the booking
funnel process is key
to understanding online
analytics,” says FlightSite md,
Rian Bornman. He adds that
monitoring online behaviour
is a major challenge in
itself. “The only certainty
with online behaviour is
change, which means that
alleviating the travel booking
abandonment problem is an
iterative process.”
