Will you surf the Web in the heat?

With winter over and summer just around the corner, many Web site owners are wondering how many people will stay home and surf the Net instead of taking a leisurely trip down to the beach to check out the waves.

While turning on the heater, boiling the kettle and booting up the computer may be the perfect way to spend a cold, wet winter day, do you really want to spend your summer watching the world go by from inside your front door?

If you need any proof that travel sites boom in winter, look at these statistics: 85 per cent more people visited STA Travel's Web site as they looked for the perfect winter getaway. Most Australian's know that they weather gets warmer as you go north, and Tourism Queensland saw an additional 25,000 unique visitors check out what they had to offer. And those people looking for a spur-of-the-moment activity went to LastMinute.com which had a record number of visitors this year.

Most experts are questioning how online dating will fare as the temperature rises. Will the 153,000 people who look for partners in the comfort of their lounge room, be tempted to venture outside their houses in the search for true love?

Booksellers are probably dreading the onset of summer. Last winter Collins Bookseller saw a 94.8 per cent increase in unique visitors a figure unlikely to be repeated as the big thaw occurs.

One set of Web site owners that will no doubt be looking forward to a decrease in the number of visitors and a well earned rest include those who specialise in depression, suicide and sickness. It's a well known fact that people's health improves as the weather gets warmer at least until the holidays arrive when we end up back where we were.