‘Web to replace newspapers for travel advertising’
The internet will replace national newspapers as the primary marketplace for travel advertising in the UK, the boss of Cheaflights.co.uk claims.
The online travel price comparison company’s CEO David Soskin says agents, operators and online suppliers will ditch traditional press advertising.
Soskin said: “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.”
Making his comments during an ABTA business lunch for industry leaders, he 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, he claims.
Internet advertising will outstrip ‘outdoor’ advertising – including billboards, posters and transit cards – next year, according to Soskin. Internet advertising has already overtaken that of cinema and radio advertising in the UK.
Report by Phil Davies
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