Like Médiamétrie, Similarweb has just published its own analysis of the main forces involved in Internet travel.
In the first quarter of 2022, the French travel industry generated 600 million visits, indicates Similarweb in a dedicated digital report. This is much better than in 2021 in Travel (+65% in terms of traffic), and the signal of a strong recovery which hides a rise in power. January turned out to be sluggish, followed by a strong acceleration due to the Travel Revenge phenomenon.
Over the first three months of the year, browsing is mainly done in nomadic mode (62% via mobile), and lasts 5 minutes 33 minutes on average, for nearly 7 pages visited per session.
A top three to qualify
The top 5 in the industry, identified by Similarweb, is mainly made up of online travel agencies. The hotel reservation specialist Booking.com dominates with 80% more visits than number 2, SNCF Connect. Airbnb takes third place on the podium, followed by TripAdvisor and Air France. This platform has a high engagement rate, says Similarweb. The French spend an average of 10 minutes and 34 seconds on airbnb.fr.
After a difficult start, the new SNCF platform, which replaced Oui.sncf in January, is therefore regaining its place among the greats. It accounts for 6.5% of overall travel traffic in France. But the competition is gaining momentum… Thetrainline.com would have gained 1.1 points in traffic share in the first quarter of 2022 (2.5%), year-on-year.
In summary, the top three in the ranking – Booking, SNCF Connect, Airbnb – turn out to be slightly different from that of Médiamétrie that we published for the month of April. Above all, this list of course does not predict the sales made. This is an audience-based ranking. In terms of business volume, the study gives a single tangible indicator: Booking shows as many sales in March 2022 as in June 2021.
Airbnb, a highly sought-after brand
In April 2022, the Airbnb name was the subject of 1.9 million queries per month in France (11% of traffic in the “hotels and accommodation” category). That is 500,000 more requests than “Booking”. The hotel platform “has much greater organic search coverage than Airbnb,” comments Similarweb.
Still on this same month, this time in the “air” category, Skyscanner stands out as the only comparator in the top 10. Air France, which distributes one in two tickets via Airfrance.com, unsurprisingly occupies first place. Ryanair, Transavia and Volotea follow. Proof of the strong presence of low cost in the French sky.
To establish its report on the trip, Similarweb relies on two data: aggregate statistics from Similarweb (computer + mobile audiences), but also those specific to applications from its partner data.ai (formerly App Annie).
