Online travel agent Expedia.co.uk has revealed plans to ramp up its sales of domestic holidays and accommodation.
Expedia’s UK managing director Caroline Cartellieri said the change of tack was in response to increased demand from UK travellers, partly due to increased environmental awareness and negative perceptions of overseas travel such as airport queues and lost luggage.
Cartellieri said: “For the first time we’re explicitly advertising domestic destinations, such as the Cotswolds, including hotel-only deals. People tend to think of Expedia as an overseas player and that’s something we’d like to change.”
Last week the company announced a new £3.5 million TV, outdoor, press and online advertising campaign centred on an 120-metre long ‘advert wrap’ on a tunnel in London’s Waterloo station.
Cartellieri denied that the campaign was designed to ward off increased competition for online bookings from the mergers of the Big Four.
“In the long-term the mergers will prove that our business model is right as they will be putting more of their business online,” she said.
“That proves that online is the future of the travel industry. There will be more customers. The cake is getting bigger for us.”
Meanwhile a new online tool to help customers choose a destination is planned for the next two weeks and more forms of user generated content are planned over the next six months.
l Expedia chief executive backs ‘human touch’, see page 24
Expedia UK managing director Caroline Cartellieri said the company is keen to change its image as an overseas player