THOMAS Cook On-Line has signed a partnership with Lycos UK in an effort to establish its upgraded Web site as a major presence on the Internet.
Lycos UK is an Internet portal and search engine with its own travel channel.
The one-year deal between the two companies means that Thomas Cook On-Line’s branding and banner advertising will immediately flash up when visitors click on the Lycos UK travel channel.
The operator’s branding and Web site address will also appear when users input certain key words or phrases into the search engine. These words include holiday, holidays, skiing, flights, late deals, and USA.
Thomas Cook On-Line marketing director Alexa Clark said: “The significance of this deal is highlighted by Lycos UK’s ability to gain maximum reach of UK Web users.
Visitors to Lycos UK have shown a strong interest in travel, with 24% of users having already made a travel-related purchase on-line.
“This matches Thomas Cook On-Line’s demographic fit and provides enormous potential to drive traffic to our site.”
A National Opinion Poll Research survey commissioned by Lycos UK last year showed that in a sample of 11,000 users of the portal, 24% made a travel-related purchase.
Thomas Cook On-Line recently became the first multiple to launch an on-line bookable site (Travel Weekly March 6).
More than 2m holidays are available across a range of in-house products including JMC, Neilson and Thomas Cook Holidays.
Rival operators’ products will be published on the site within the next couple of months, although these will not be bookable on-line.
Other developments, such as moving images of resorts and commentary, are due to follow shortly.