| Journal: TWUK | Section: |
| Title: | Issue Date: 30/10/00 |
| Author: | Page Number: 80 |
| Copyright: Other |
President stands by Web warning
ABTA president Stephen Bath claims his controversial comments about the Internet at last year’s convention in Cairns have been totally vindicated.
Bath was criticised for saying that most independents would be better off investing in a new carpet than a Web site.
“I think I’ve been proved right,” he said. “Most people would be better off spending £5,000 on refurbishment than on the Internet.
“The Internet accounts for 1/2000th of our bookings. We spent £30,000 advertising on our Web site and didn’t get £3,000 worth of bookings back. If we’d advertised our shops in the local press, we would probably have got our money back within four or five days.
“Everyone who has invested in the Internet has lost money.
“Of course Internet bookings will increase but this will not be at the pace originally predicted,” he added.