Growing online threat to business travel agents - 26-Feb-04.

Growing online threat to business travel agents - 26-Feb-04.: "The Company Barclaycard annual Travel in Business survey reveals a 49% rise in overall business travel bookings via the internet since 2000 when only 17% of business travellers booked travel online.

Booking flights and trains online has increased by 8% in the last 12 months, according to Company Barclaycard. The research found that 66% of business travellers had booked flights online and 45% booked rail via the internet. "

“With the internet only a click away, business travel agents need to focus on promoting the added value that they alone can bring to customers. Business travel agents should communicate the clear advantages of having a travel expert rather than a computer serving customers’ travel needs.”

eyefortravel.com - Travel Distribution News, Events and Analysis

eyefortravel.com - Travel Distribution News, Events and Analysis: "Under the new agreement, customers booking train tickets on TheTrainLine will be presented with lastminute.com hotel offers matching their destination and travel dates. The new functionality will allow them to purchase train tickets and book hotels simultaneously as part of the same transaction."

eyefortravel.com - Travel Distribution News, Events and Analysis

eyefortravel.com - Travel Distribution News, Events and AnalysisAimed at UK visitors, the new website offers a great wealth of information and useful tips on travelling to and within Germany’s exciting cities and towns, on scenic routes and popular itineraries.

In addition, it supplies information on transport links, accommodation for every budget and taste, and ideas what to do and see while you’re in Germany.

A brochure order service, a detailed event search and an extensive listing of practical information are also available

Trends in Travel: New Insurance for Last-Minute Travelers

Trends in Travel: New Insurance for Last-Minute Travelers: "According to the Travel Industry Association of America, an increasing number of Americans will enjoy more vacations this year than last, but they are booking closer to their departure date. "

"The landscape of the travel industry is definitely evolving. People are taking shorter, last-minute trips," said Beth Godlin, Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Access America.

New car hire deal for Stelios - 23-Feb-04.

New car hire deal for Stelios - 23-Feb-04.The Guardian reports that Stelios has set up the deal in Cyprus, where a businessman will operate four sites with a total of 200 cars, in return for “a royalty to use the EasyCar name”, and intends to roll out the concept in other overseas destinations.

He reportedly told the newspaper: “The credibility of a company like EasyCar with headquarters in Camden to run a business in Cyprus is zero. This type of deal is the only way to expand internationally.”

TravelMole Interview: Richard Carrick, Hoseasons - 19-Feb-04.

TravelMole Interview: Richard Carrick, Hoseasons - 19-Feb-04.: "UK tourism is set for a bumper year in 2004, but the boost will come from domestic trips, not overseas visitors"

On the right track

On the right track: "A couple of years ago there would have been a staff wake and Qjump would have been filed alongside the likes of boo.com in the history of dotcom failures. Instead, its merger with the Thetrainline has underlined two inescapable aspects of a maturing web market that now has only one national rail ticket booking site."

Targeted Email Newsletters Show Continued Strength (Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox)

Targeted Email Newsletters Show Continued Strength (Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox): "Summary:
E-newsletters that are informative, convenient, and timely are often preferred over other media. However, a new study found that only 11% of newsletters were read thoroughly, so layout and content scannability is paramount. "

Travelocity Strengthens TotalTrip Offering With New Booking Options

Travelocity Strengthens TotalTrip Offering With New Booking Options: "Travelocity TotalTrip(SM) make booking dream vacations online easier and more convenient than ever before. Travelocity(R) shoppers can now simultaneously reserve attractions tickets, ski lift tickets and airport transfers along with great flight hotel options in one itinerary with TotalTrip"

About Travelocity

Travelocity, a Sabre Holdings(TM) company, the pioneer in online travel, gives consumers access to hundreds of airlines, thousands of hotels, cruise, last-minute and vacations packages, entertainment tickets, best-in-class car rental companies, and ground transportation all backed by 24-hour customer service. With 41 million members, Travelocity is the sixth largest travel agency in the United States and has been recognized for its global leadership in online travel and powers five multi-lingual travel Web sites worldwide

22% of online users buy airline tickets

Features: "Nearly one in three UK adults, 13.8 million of us, have become online-savvy and are using the internet to buy, according to new research."

Lastminute to push on with buy-up plans

News: "Lastminute to push on with buy-up plans "

Lastminute.com said today that it will continue its strategy of growth by acquisition over the next few months despite wider net losses for the first quarter...

In tandem with its acquisition spree, Lastminute is currently in the throes of a major marketing offensive in the UK aimed at strengthening its brand as the market becomes increasingly competitive

OTC rejects ad campaigns for search push

News
Online Travel Corp has invested £500,000 in search engine marketing activity including SEO and keyword campaigns in a bid to drive more traffic to its own brand websites.

Darvey said OTC was particularly focusing on strengthening its core onlinetravel.com brand, but at the same time trying to build up distinct communities around all its own brand websites, which include bargainholidays.com, ifyouski.com, deckchair.com, and all-hotels.com.

The investment in search engine marketing comes just several weeks after the company signed a deal with WebAbacus to monitor and analyse traffic across its top 30 websites.

alternative to traditional mobile tariffs for travellers

eyefortravel.com - Travel Distribution News, Events and Analysis: "A new service launched today may cut the cost of international mobile phone charges by up to 80%"

Top 10 Global "Travel - Destinations & Accommodation" sites for the week ending 31 January, 2004 based on VISITS

eyefortravel.com - Travel Distribution News, Events and Analysis

Independent travel soars to Spain - 09-Feb-04.

Independent travel soars to Spain - 09-Feb-04.: "Numbers of UK package holidaymakers to Spain declined by almost 4% last year while independent travellers soared by a massive 30%. "

eyefortravel.com - Travel Distribution News, Events and Analysis

eyefortravel.com - Travel Distribution News, Events and Analysis: "Corus hotels has seen its online bookings grow by 45% across its 68 UK hotels since implementing Active Hotels' online booking service"

VisitBritain optimistic to top 25m visitor mark in 2004 - 10-Feb-04.

VisitBritain optimistic to top 25m visitor mark in 2004 - 10-Feb-04.

Trainline & Qjump to merge

BBC NEWS | Business | Rail booking firms set to merge: "Rail booking groups Trainline.com and Qjump are to merge, creating a new firm responsible for issuing 10% of all rail tickets.
Up to 190 jobs are expected to go at Qjump with the closure of its Sheffield call centre in an attempt to cut costs.
Call-centre provider Sitel UK has been given the contract to manage calls at its site in Newcastle.
The company, to be called TheTrainline, will be the UK's largest rail retailer with annual sales of about �300m....

The new business will be 86% owned by Virgin, which has increased its holding through the purchase of a 49% shareholding from Stagecoach for £4m. "

eyefortravel.com - Travel Distribution News, Events and Analysis

eyefortravel.com - Travel Distribution News, Events and Analysis: "1. (11.59 %) easyJet http://www.easyjet.co.uk
2. (7.76 %) RyanAir.com http://www.ryanair.com
3. (5.89 %) British Airways http://www.britishairways.com
4. (4.75 %) National Rail http://www.nationalrail.co.uk
5. (3.32 %) bmibaby http://www.bmibaby.com
6. (2.91 %) The TrainLine http://www.thetrainline.com
7. (2.63 %) BMI British Midlands http://www.flybmi.com
8. (2.44 %) FlyBE.com http://www.flybe.com
9. (2.35 %) Thetrainline Store http://www.thetrainlinestore.com
10. (2.13 %) RAC Travel http://www.rac.co.uk"

1.8 million page impressions

eyefortravel.com - Travel Distribution News, Events and Analysis
Tiscover has predicted that recovery in the global travel market "is underway", as the company reports passing the 1,000 transactions-per-minute barrier on its site Tiscover.com.

Cautious Americans favour Mexico over UK - 02-Feb-04.

Cautious Americans favour Mexico over UK - 02-Feb-04.: "Mexico is becoming far more popular than the UK for Americans taking winter holidays abroad according to a new survey. "

News

News: "Former local information website e-street, which went into liquidation in May 2003, is making a comeback, initially via a CD-Rom with plans to move back onto the web in the near future...

e-street, which was founded in 1998, raised around £5m investment and in its prime had partnerships with key websites including This is London, MSN Lycos, Reuters and Virgin.net. The company went into liquidation last May after running out of cash"