Tough times ahead, says Cheapflights boss
Online travel companies are set for a “tough time” as traditional agents fight back, according to David Soskin, head of Cheapflights.co.uk.
The Daily Telegraph today interviews Soskin, who states that the coming years are going to be “very, very competitive” for the industry as a whole.
Whereas, Soskin says, the internet was “not a very developed medium” when the likes of ebookers and lastminute.com were set up, there are now some 12,000 travel websites jostling for position.
He reportedly told the newspaper: “The days when you could do well just by having a lot of 30-second advertising slots on Granada have long gone. Now you have to have something super-good. The next few years are going to be very, very competitive.”
Soskin said the old-fashioned travel industry is fighting back, with companies such as TUI and British Airways developing customer-friendly web sites, while there are increasing signs of a “worsening relationship” such as yesterday’s news that Expedia and hotels.com have been ditched by Intercontinental Hotels.
But he reportedly added that companies were wrong to blame a difficult marketplace for their failure to make profits: “It just isn’t true. If you can’t make money in travel today then there must be some issues with what you are doing.”
Report by Tim Gillett, News From Abroad
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