TM Insider 165

Wednesday, 11 Dec, 2001 0

The TravelMole Insider – Issue 165
ISSN 1474-2292
11 December 2001
http://www.travelmole.com

THIS NEWSWIRE CONTAINS AN ADVERTISEMENT FROM:
Farebase

THIS WEEK’S REGULAR FEATURES:
Site of the Week: Opodo.de
People in the Trade: Chris Kroeger, vp, Sabre, E, ME and Africa

LATEST INDUSTRY NEWS:
1. Critics argue EC should close Opodo ‘loopholes’
2. First Choice sees profits fall by 20 percent
3. Slump in UK tourism continues
4. Sept 11 spells gloom for European CEOs
5. Superbreak success helps parent’s profits
6. BA says it cannot rule out further job losses
7. Galileo and Virgin Travelstore in renewal deal
8. Six Continents Hotels announces strong results
9. Travelsavers International adds corporate booking product
10. TV Travel Shop launches on Homechoice
11. Bill Clinton to keynote PATA annual conference

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Editor’s Note

Dear TravelMole Member

The debate surrounding online travel agency Opodo has
intensified rather than eased following its launch in Germany,
its first market, late last month. The EC is to be praised for
the way it has scrutinised the business plans of the joint
airline venture. Even in the last few weeks before the site is
finally given the go-ahead, it still seems prepared to take
onboard the concerns coming from some corners of the industry.

But even if the EC clamps down hard on Opodo over pricing, it is
still going to be tough competition – particularly for other
online travel sites. As this week’s ‘Site of the Week’ review
shows, the layout of the site is impressively quick and simple to
follow and is likely to make it popular with consumers, even if
they have not booked on the internet before. Read the review:
http://www.travelmole.com/item/65897

Best wishes

Richard Hammond
mailto:[email protected]

LATEST INDUSTRY NEWS

1. Critics argue EC should close Opodo ‘loopholes’

Mounting pressure is being placed on the EC to further tighten
up the rules governing Opodo before giving the online travel
agency the green light later this month. The EC has already told
Opodo to make a number of changes to its business plans
following competition concerns, but critics say there are still
a number of loopholes which could allow the airline-owned online
travel agency to offer fares that are not available elsewhere.
http://www.travelmole.com/item/66003

2. First Choice sees profits fall by 20 percent

First Choice today reported a fall in annual profits but also
revealed that it has improved margins as a result of the
capacity cuts made since September 11.
http://www.travelmole.com/item/66105

3. Slump in UK tourism continues

New figures from the International Passenger Survey released by
the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that overseas
visitors to the UK decreased by 12 percent to 1.8 million in
October 2001, compared to October 2000.
http://www.travelmole.com/item/65772

4. Sept 11 spells gloom for European CEOs

The impact of September 11 is felt more keenly in continental
Europe than in the UK, according to a survey of leading CEOs by
PricewaterhouseCoopers.
http://www.travelmole.com/item/65803

5. Superbreak success helps parent’s profits

UK short break specialist Superbreak helped its parent company
Holidaybreak to increase pre-tax profits by 15 percent to GBP
23.8 million in the year to September 30.
http://www.travelmole.com/item/65975

6. BA says it cannot rule out further job losses

British Airways shares fell sharply on Monday morning following
a report in The Observer newspaper on Sunday which said the
airline is planning to make a further 10,000 job losses.
http://www.travelmole.com/item/65949

7. Galileo and Virgin Travelstore in renewal deal

GDS Galileo has announced that it has signed a three-year
renewal agreement with Virgin Travelstore.
http://www.travelmole.com/item/65771

8. Six Continents Hotels announces strong results

Six Continents Hotels has announced strong financial results and
is confident of a resilient position for the future, despite
difficult market conditions.
http://www.travelmole.com/item/65770

9. Travelsavers International adds corporate booking product

Travelsavers International is to include an online booking
product for corporate accounts.
http://www.travelmole.com/item/65797

10. TV Travel Shop launches on Homechoice

TV Travel Group, the owner of TV Travel Shop, has announced a
long-term agreement with HomeChoice, the broadband on-demand
interactive TV service.
http://www.travelmole.com/item/66107

11. Bill Clinton to keynote PATA annual conference

PATA has confirmed that the former US President Bill Clinton
will deliver the keynote address, “Tourism – Looking Ahead and
Beyond,” at the 51st PATA Annual Conference in New Delhi, India.
http://www.travelmole.com/item/66096

REGULAR FEATURES:

People in the Trade: Chris Kroeger

Chris Kroeger was named senior vice president Sabre Europe,
Middle East and Africa in June 2000 and is responsible for
sales, service, marketing, e-commerce, business development, and
joint ventures throughout the region. Read his entry in
TravelMole’s Who’s Who in Travel and Tourism:
http://www.travelmole.com/cgi-site/whoswho.cgi

Site of the Week: Opodo.de

Opodo.de is the first of the fully-functional Opodo sites to
appear, and while it’s the German site, we can presume that the
functionality and content will be consistent across all the
country specific sites. TravelMole’s reviewer, Adrian Mann,
concludes: “An excellent debut. It’s perhaps not as ‘cutting
edge’ as some were expecting, but it doesn’t suffer from this.”
Read his full review:
http://www.travelmole.com/featured_sites.html

About the TravelMole Insider

This is the 165th issue of the TravelMole Insider. We keep track
of developments of interest to people working in the travel
and tourism industry. The Managing Editor is Richard Hammond,
the News Editor is Helen Young and the StudentZone Managing
Editor is Janie Bickersteth. The TravelMole website includes the
latest trade news, previous newswires, links to relevant sites,
research information and other useful resources for the industry.
Read what others have said about TravelMole:
http://www.travelmole.com/item/51557

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