The internet will replace national newspapers as the primary marketplace for travel advertising in the UK as agents, operators and online suppliers ditch traditional press according to David Soskin, CEO of Cheapflights.co.uk.
Soskin, making his comments during an Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA) Business Luncheon for industry leaders, drew parallels with the North American market, where major newspaper groups have faced derisory increases or worse in travel advertising in the first quarter of this year.
With 99% of the UK population able to access high-speed internet services by summer 2005, price comparison websites are set to become the main source for travel deals.
Internet advertising will outstrip 'outdoor' advertising - including billboards, posters and transit cards - in 2006 according to Soskin. Internet advertising has already overtaken that of cinema and radio advertising in the UK.
Said Soskin: "As a generation of computer experts comes of age, newspapers will have to move quickly to stop their advertising revenues haemorrhaging. Young travellers will not be seeking travel deals on TV or a newspaper: they'll be online.
"Travel companies that look to effective internet advertising models will pay less, sell more and account far more accurately for the success of their spend."
Soskin is the first representative from a virtual media company to address the ABTA Business Luncheon. Cheapflights' UK sites - Cheapflights.co.uk, Cheapholidaydeals.co.uk and Cheapaccommodation.com - will drive over £800 million of travel product sales in 2005.
NOTES TO EDITORS ABOUT CHEAPFLIGHTS
Cheapflights is the world's largest independent online travel price comparison service, operating Cheapflights.co.uk, Cheapholidaydeals.co.uk, Cheapaccommodation.com, and Cheapflights.com in the USA.
The company invented travel price search-and-compare functionality on the internet in 1996 and introduced pay per click (PPC) in 2000. Today, Cheapflights' users search through over one million travel bargains from over 700 ABTA and ATOL bonded travel companies, airlines and accommodation providers in the UK alone. Another 200 plus clients advertise on our US and global accommodation sites. Users can click through to their chosen supplier to book or often to telephone lines dedicated to their chosen deal.
Leading online measurement company Hitwise describes Cheapflights.co.uk as 'the UK's favourite travel price comparison site'; and the Company's unique user numbers, including the UK, support this, reaching 4,000,000 unique users in January 2005 (source: ABCe and Company Logfiles). Additionally Cheapflights will drive over £800 million of travel product sales in the UK in 2005.
