AIRTOURS UK Leisure Group plans to pour millions of pounds into developing holiday sales through the Internet, interactive TV and mobile phones.
Airtours is opening a multi-media studio, Airtours eMedia, in Manchester that will design video, audio and text content. It will be used to promote Airtours brands through all forms of new media. The studio will have a staff of 25.
New media director Jonathan Hart, who announced the plans at the launch of Going Places’ new interactive TV service on British Sky Broadcasting’s interactive TV system Open, said: “It is our stated policy that we want to be one of the pre-eminent players in new media. I don’t know of any other company doing the same thing to the extent we are.”
But he claimed Going Places’ 730 travel shops would not be left behind in the drive to conquer new technology. Airtours eMedia would also develop technology to help shop staff boost sales, initially by enhancing its Matchmaker reservation system, he said.
“What we can say categorically is that we will be looking to roll out multimedia services through retail shops. How that will manifest itself on the shop floor is still to be decided,” he said.
Meanwhile, Going Places has finally launched its service on Open after a three-month delay caused by technical hitches. The new service allows Sky’s 2.6m digital TV subscribers to browse for holidays using their remote control. Only Airtours-owned brands are featured at present, but Hart claimed this policy may be reviewed in the future.