Growth of site visits 'slowing'

The growth in the frequency with which people visit websites has fallen to its slowest rate in six years, according to new data.

Web survey institute XiTi Monitor pegged the number of site visits to some 209,000 destinations in the first quarter of 2007 at 234, an annual rise of 4.7%.

But that growth was the slowest featured in available data, which began in the first quarter of 2002 on 109 visits, or an 8.6% annual growth. A 1% uptake is expected by September this year.

"This progress in visits to websites, observed over seven years, has become less dramatic over the last two years," XiTi said.

"The explanation for this slowing in the rate of site frequentation growth could be that the increase in the number of pages available on the net is greater than the number of net surfers.

"The surfers, faced with a wider choice, are therefore becoming scattered over a larger number of sites. Faced with this slowing in the average frequentation of web sites, which seems to be here to stay, only one expression will do: loyalty cultivation."

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