Scenic Britain by Bus

UK Public Transport - a new site covering some of the UK - not as comprehensive as gb.totaltravel, will check it out as I go to see if they do anything better....Scenic Britain by Bus: "Scenic Britain by Bus is your online guide to bus services in some of the loveliest parts of Britain."

Guest Comment: Domestic tourism - agents or internet for growth? - 29 Sep 2003

Guest Comment: Domestic tourism - agents or internet for growth? - 29 Sep 2003: "In its advice to the industry VisitBritain should clearly be telling the small businesses to develop their online information to provide on-line bookings too. The trend is already clear from the action of many of the big operators -over reliance on the retail agent would be investing in yesterday's technology and for the small business it makes better financial sense"

Lastminute.com : "Lastminute.com is back on the acquisition trail again after boosting its coffers with a placing of unsecured convertible bonds worth �70m."

Hotels lead the way in online travel bookings: "Tema Frank, president of Web Mystery Shoppers International Inc. 'But I was surprised to find that the airline sites are doing a better job of telling people what their plans will cost. Even business travelers do usually have a budget, so they need to know the costs to make a decision.'

Other frustrations for hotel bookers:

- Getting a long list of results with no way to sort it by price.

- Lack of maps or information about where the hotel was located relative to key tourist or business attractions.

- Not being told how much taxes or other fees would add to their total costs before they had to enter their credit card information.

- Lack of photographs of the rooms or hotels under consideration."

InterActive's Last-Minute Travel Trophy: Hotwire: "InterActive's Last-Minute Travel Trophy: Hotwire"
E-Commerce juggernaut InterActiveCorp. (Quote, Chart) continues putting its money where its mouth is on acquisitions, this time with the purchase of online discount travel site Hotwire.com for $665 million in cash

Influencing the Influencers
The link between Influentials and the Internet is obvious:
82% of Influentials have Internet access, compared to 54% of the general population (2003 study by RoperASW)
10% of the American population are Influentials, while 15% of the online population are Influentials.*

Tiscover signs Agreement with East of England Tourist Board

The new web presence will provide potential visitors with up-to-date information on accommodation; attractions; events; mapping and booking tools, coupled with the ability to book directly with accommodation providers.
www.tiscover.com

Hitwise United Kingdom List

Top 10 Global "Travel - Destinations & Accommodation" sites for the week ending 13 September, 2003 based on VISITS (9/18/2003)