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Webjet takes off with sales surge
SYDNEY – Internet-based travel portal Webjet says the number of people using its services surged 19 percent in the second half of 2008 despite economic gloom and the falling Australian dollar prompting fears of a slowdown in air travel. 
 

Webjet managing director David Clarke attributed the result to increasingly budget-conscious travellers using the company’s portal, which compares prices across different airlines, to drive their dollar further. 
 

“We’ve got a general economic environment where people are really hunting the bargains. To do that on individual airline (web)sites or within a bricks and mortar travel agent is very difficult, but very easy on the Net,”
Clarke told The Age newspaper that the performance of the sector during 2009 would be determined by the extent of the rise in unemployment and the degree to which airlines continued the heavy discounting of recent months.
While he forecast the discounting to remain strong for the first half of the year, he said the situation beyond June was less certain. 
 

“We may see either a continuation of major bargains, or we may see airlines seriously rationalising capacity.”


He said sales in the first days of January had been “very strong”.
Ian Jarrett
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