I have a travel web site...just realized.
By Google I have 5-6 unique visits, 20 all visits per day...
By Awstat I have 15-19 unique, 50 all visits per day...
By Webalizer I have 40-45 unique , 100 all visits per day...

I do not ask which is real..but I installed a hit counter on 11:00 today (CGI script from my cPanel fantastico)...to get a real time monitoring of visits...
I know bad things about that

BUT my hit counter now (13:25) displays 259 visits/openings (20-25 is mine) but its alot more that what stat programs are saying...

Its a huge difference....I want to know why?

Analytic programs use javascript to count with and most bots do not run javasript. But your "hitcounter" will be counting ever page load (including page refresh "views")

As Chris told you.
Beside this, an external analytic tools can only estimate what traffic you have.

Tools like awstats and webalizer works by anlysing your web server log, so are more reliable.
The difference between awstats and webalizer come probably by the fact that awstats try to "follow" someone that visit several pages on your site, and don't count each hit like a new visitor.

And just a quick visit on the awstats faq page provides you with a detailed explaination:
http://awstats.sourceforge.net/docs/...FERENT_RESULTS