The list was published by TravelTrends.biz, organiser of the annual TRAVELtech conference, to be held this year at the Sheraton Sydney on Friday 24 October.
“The biggest take-out [from this report] is that Australian sites are getting hammered by global juggernauts,” said TravelTrends director Martin Kelly.
“TripAdvisor.com.au in particular is killing it, growing 18 per cent over the past year to record more than 10 million visits during August 2014.
“These stats put it on another level with a huge gap to site #3, qantas.com.au, on 6.8 million August visits – more than 3 million less than TripAdvisor,” said Kelly.
“No other site apart from Google has more, or is creating content quite so quickly or effectively. Thousands of new searchable pages are being created every day by TripAdvisor reviewers – the company doesn’t have to do a thing. Meanwhile, TripAdvisor’s transition to a hotel meta-search business model has been seamless and the site’s ‘stickier’ than it’s ever been”
Another impressive performer was #5 website Booking.com, which last year became Australia’s top-ranked OTA for the first time, pulling away from its nearest rivals #7 Webjet (+3 per cent) and #8 Wotif (+1 per cent).
The weak traffic growth of Webjet and Wotif typified the generally poor domestic performance of long-term local brands. Holiday rental Stayz, for example, came in at #16 with an increase in visits of just 2 per cent.
An interesting exception to the domestic rule was Australian retail giant, Flight Centre. With much bigger advertising budgets than the struggling local travel sites, traffic for Flightcentre.com.au grew 8 per cent, making it the #14th ranked site overall.
OTA market leader Booking.com, which Hitwise says is getting more than 6 million visitors a month, more than 2 million ahead of Webjet and Wotif. Another way to put it – Booking.com has 50 per cent more visitors a month than the immediate competition. Trivago, which has been advertising heavily on TV, trebled its monthly traffic, up by 293% to 1.1 million.
“At their present respective trajectories, the gap will grow wider unless something happens to change the dynamic – which is extremely unlikely,” commented Kelly.
On the accommodation front, HotelsCombined grew faster than any other major Australia travel site, increasing by 38 per cent.
No surprise that the biggest mover in the accommodation OTA space was Airbnb.com.au, where traffic grew a whopping 931 per cent, from 25,979 visits in August 2013, to 267,877 this year.
Written by Kris Madden
Hottest 100 Travel Websites for 2014
| Websites | Domain | Visits Aug-14 |
| Google Maps Australia | maps.google.com.au | 30,331,014 |
| TripAdvisor – Australia | www.tripadvisor.com.au | 10,099,993 |
| Qantas | www.qantas.com.au | 6,789,214 |
| Google Maps | maps.google.com | 6,553,634 |
| Booking.com | www.booking.com | 6,239,336 |
| Jetstar | www.jetstar.com | 5,523,510 |
| Webjet Australia | www.webjet.com.au | 4,154,175 |
| Wotif.com | www.wotif.com | 4,098,599 |
| Whereis.com | www.whereis.com | 3,459,241 |
| Virgin Australia | www.virginaustralia.com | 3,430,357 |
| Public Transport Victoria | www.ptv.vic.gov.au | 3,381,649 |
| Expedia Australia | www.expedia.com.au | 3,269,645 |
| News.com.au Travel | www.news.com.au/travel | 2,985,884 |
| Flight Centre | www.flightcentre.com.au | 2,555,096 |
| Agoda.com | www.agoda.com | 2,525,081 |
| Stayz | www.stayz.com.au | 2,144,605 |
| Skyscanner Australia | www.skyscanner.com.au | 1,931,682 |
| AirAsia | www.airasia.com | 1,855,455 |
| Tiger Airways | www.tigerair.com | 1,665,452 |
| Lastminute.com.au | www.lastminute.com.au | 1,641,100 |
| NSW – Roads and Maritime Services (RMS) | www.rms.nsw.gov.au | 1,551,482 |
| TransLink | www.translink.com.au | 1,550,940 |
| Hotels.com | www.hotels.com | 1,442,865 |
| WeekendNotes | www.weekendnotes.com | 1,405,855 |
| Sydney Trains | www.sydneytrains.info | 1,276,437 |
| Qantas – Frequent Flyer | www.qantasfrequentflyer.com.au | 1,170,008 |
| Trivago | www.trivago.com.au | 1,143,397 |
| Agoda Australia | www.agoda.com.au | 1,002,434 |
| Emirates | www.emirates.com | 961,241 |
| flightradar24.com | www.flightradar24.com | 953,244 |
| Hotels Combined | www.hotelscombined.com | 896,379 |
| www.transportnsw.info | www.transportnsw.info | 856,163 |
| Western Australian Department of Transport | www.transport.wa.gov.au | 837,449 |
| Lonely Planet | www.lonelyplanet.com | 813,117 |
| Transperth | www.transperth.wa.gov.au | 785,493 |
| Knapsack Inn | www.backpackers.com.tw | 761,827 |
| au.edreams.com | au.edreams.com | 720,168 |
| ABA Travel | www.abatravel.com.au | 701,259 |
| Viator | www.viator.com | 700,024 |
| Accor Hotels | www.accorhotels.com | 696,953 |
| Singapore Airlines | www.singaporeair.com | 692,783 |
| Air New Zealand – Australia | www.airnewzealand.com.au | 683,128 |
| Bing maps | www.bing.com/maps | 682,925 |
| TripAdvisor | www.tripadvisor.com | 666,380 |
| Time Out Australia | www.au.timeout.com | 649,945 |
| Adelaide Metro | www.adelaidemetro.com.au | 643,203 |
| Visit New South Wales | www.visitnsw.com | 639,972 |
| Melbourne Airport | www.melbourneairport.com.au | 561,308 |
| P&O Cruises Australia | www.pocruises.com.au | 528,118 |
| STA Travel Australia | www.statravel.com.au | 524,981 |
| Princess Cruises | www.princess.com | 520,869 |
| NSW Transport and Infrastructure | www.transport.nsw.gov.au | 518,178 |
| BYOjet | www.byojet.com | 514,228 |
| Travel Groupon Australia | travel.groupon.com.au | 479,558 |
| FlyScoot.com | www.flyscoot.com | 479,083 |
| RentalCars.com | www.rentalcars.com | 479,003 |
| My NRMA | www.mynrma.com.au | 471,976 |
| FareCompare | www.farecompare.com | 460,807 |
| HotelClub | www.hotelclub.com | 445,141 |
| ExplorOz.com | www.exploroz.com | 443,291 |
| Metro Trains Melbourne | www.metrotrains.com.au | 423,267 |
| travel.com.au | www.travel.com.au | 411,810 |
| Cathay Pacific | www.cathaypacific.com | 407,815 |
| EscapeTravel | www.escapetravel.com.au | 399,978 |
| Cheap Flights Australia and New Zealand | www.cheapflights.com.au | 395,579 |
| Velocity Frequent Flyer | www.velocityfrequentflyer.com | 376,079 |
| Go Behind The Scenery | www.gobehindthescenery.com.au | 372,134 |
| Sydney Airport | www.sydneyairport.com.au | 363,033 |
| RedBalloon | www.redballoon.com.au | 356,450 |
| StreetDirectory.com.au | www.street-directory.com.au | 355,013 |
| Transurban CityLink | www.citylink.com.au | 349,226 |
| Thebookingbutton.com.au | www.thebookingbutton.com.au | 348,212 |
| Perisher Blue Ski Resort | www.perisherblue.com.au | 343,981 |
| Malaysia Airlines | www.malaysiaairlines.com | 342,382 |
| bookingbuddy | www.bookingbuddy.com | 336,738 |
| VirtualTourist | www.virtualtourist.com | 336,281 |
| Budget Rent A Car Australia | www.budget.com.au | 335,757 |
| Etihad Airways | www.etihadairways.com | 331,605 |
| Avis Rent A Car Australia | www.avis.com.au | 329,210 |
| Sydney.com | www.sydney.com | 325,019 |
| Discover Australia | www.discoveraustralia.com.au | 319,773 |
| V/line | www.vline.com.au | 319,677 |
| Visit Victoria | www.visitvictoria.com | 317,849 |
| ZUJI Australia | www.zuji.com http://www.zuji.com.au | 316,497 |
| RoyalCaribbean.com.au | www.royalcaribbean.com.au | 310,977 |
| Carnival Australia | www.carnival.com.au | 309,338 |
| Australian Business Traveller | www.ausbt.com.au | 304,273 |
| Mantra Resorts | www.mantra.com.au | 304,002 |
| AGFG (Australian Good Food & Travel Guide) | www.agfg.com.au | 302,867 |
| www.luxuryescapes.com | www.luxuryescapes.com | 300,778 |
| Travel Online Australia | www.travelonline.com | 290,915 |
| CheapOair | www.cheapoair.com | 282,645 |
| Hello World | www.helloworld.com.au | 280,105 |
| I Want That Flight! | www.iwantthatflight.com.au | 279,822 |
| Thrifty Car Rental Australia | www.thrifty.com.au | 277,451 |
| Airbnb Australia | www.airbnb.com.au | 267,877 |
| TakeABreak | www.takeabreak.com.au | 264,599 |
| IHG | www.ihg.com | 263,733 |
| Student Flights | www.studentflights.com.au | 262,161 |
| Time Out | www.timeout.com | 260,224 |
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