Online intelligence company Experian have posted some interesting trends in the behaviour of UK holidaymakers use of the Internet.  Their analysis of user behaviour suggests that the travel industry is becoming less dependent on the peak booking months of January, July and August.

The company tracks visits to travel websites, showing some key trends for searching and booking holidays:

• Traffic to travel websites is slightly down in January, July and August, the three busiest months.
• The traffic in the run up to these peak months; November and December, then May and June has increased.
• Of particular interest is the popularity of July and August; far ahead of the site visitors in January, indicating how the Internet has transformed the tourism industry.

The data includes visits to all travel sites, not just UK domestic tourism, as well as winter holidays, which may explain a rise in usage in November and December.

However if this trend continues, it suggests a further erosion of the traditional peak booking weeks into more even demand, certainly throughout the first half of the year.

You can read the full blog post complete with graphs on the Hitwise website.