Travel content site Simonseeks is to be wound down after the company admitted its business model was “unviable”.
The site – backed by Travelsupermarket founder Simon Nixon – offers travel guides written by local experts and travel writers. The writers are given a cut of click-through revenue.
However, Nixon said the business model was not viable, despite heavy promotion through SEO and above-the-line advertising.
Nixon said: “We found that consumers are not yet ready to pay for professionally-written travel content online and the amounts generated through the monetisation of the reviews through hotel bookings and page impressions is simply not sufficient.
“As a result we will not be commissioning any new content from our destination experts and my funding of the site will terminate. Our experts have all been notified and we will of course honour payments for any commissioned work to date.”
The site will remain live and continue to operate on a smaller scale.
Nixon said he would concentrate on his luxury house rental business simonescapes.com as well as continuing his role as executive deputy chairman of moneysupermarket.com.