25 May 2006 Travel websites popular among older surfers
Older internet users are clicking on travel and cruise websites as they turn to the web to book holidays, according to new research as part of Silver Surfer Week.
Hitwise, which conducted the survey, says that silver surfers are the biggest user group for travel sites of any age category, accounting for 38 per cent of visitors.
In addition to making their travel plans online, the internet is drawing users as they can check the weather in their intended destination.
Commenting on the increasing amount of older people finding the benefits of the internet, Heather Hopkins, director of research for Hitwise UK, said: "The websites that are receiving the highest volume of visits from silver surfers are the same as the websites that are receiving the most traffic overall."
The only difference was that older users were more interested in tracing their ancestry whilst younger users preferred to keep in contact with friends, through sites like MySpace.com.
Ease of obtaining holidays and associated items and suncreams online is also coupled with the fact that many websites are cheaper than store prices.
Ms Hopkins said that it was encouraging that older users were realising this, especially as pensions usually need to be stretched as far as possible.
However, she added that it was not just older users taking advantage of online discounts on holidays as all age groups are taking advantage of the offers available on the internet. 
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