| Journal: TWUK | Section: |
| Title: | Issue Date: 04/09/00 |
| Author: | Page Number: 78 |
| Copyright: Other |
Expedia banks on more holidays
IN A blatantly self-serving move, on-line travel agency Expedia.co.uk is spearheading a campaign to get the great British public more annual bank holidays.The company’s imaginatively titled Campaign for More Bank Holidays wants to persuade the Government to give us over-worked Britons more time off.
And, naturally, it wants everybody to spend that time on holidays booked through Expedia. Which is why, on the Campaign for More Bank Holidays’ home page, just above the screaming headline ‘You deserve more holidays’, there are helpful links to its flight, hotel and car-booking sections.
The company has even gone to the trouble of commissioning a report showing that 64% of Britons want to increase the number of bank holidays from eight to the European average of 11. Is this a surprise?Or is it more of a surprise that 36% don’t want 11 Bank holidays?
Expedia’s campaign may score high marks for cynicism and low marks for subtlety, but at least it’s making the effort. Squeezing even one extra bank holiday out of the Government would be good news for the whole travel industry.
Perhaps some leading multiples and operators should pitch in and help instead of leaving all the work to one relatively little-known Internet travel agency.