The budget carrier today announced the launch of Ryanair Holidays in partnership with European tour operating and travel agency group Logitravel and Iberostar-owned DMO World2Meet.
Kenny Jacobs, Ryanair chief marketing officer, said the airlines aims to become the Amazon of travel by encouraging its customers to book more products and services with it.
“In the UK now you have a myriad of niche online agents, and I think half will be gone in five years’ time and we will be left with a few key players.
“Everyone is looking at that share of wallet of the traveller. Google is looking to do something and I have money on Amazon entering the space over the next three years.
Jacobs said Ryanair Holidays has launched with 330,000 hotels and will offer Atol bonded holidays initially focusing on the UK, German and Irish markets during the turn of year peak selling period.
He said due to the saving buying flights direct with Ryanair and the deals it is able to drive from hoteliers, plus the fact it is prepared to invest its commission to drive conversions, it will offer customers saving of 10% on package holidays.
“We are confident that this will be the best value for European customer in the market. We will push this hard in the three launch markets. The package holiday market in Europe is absolutely huge.
“We are launching this because we are already bringing people to the destination. We can offer them three, four or five star great hotel inventory, better than other package holiday providers will have.
Transfers will be available as well as in-resort representation and customer support through World2Meet. The holidays will offer financial protection in the UK under Logitravel’s Atol.
Jacobs added: “Consumes have been paying too much for package holidays for years and more and more want to put their own packages together themselves.
“Following the launch of Ryanair Car Hire and Ryanair Rooms, even more customers are coming to Ryanair for services and products other than flights, and this is another step on our journey to becoming the Amazon of air travel.”
Ryanair has previously announced it will make it mandatory for customers to have a MyRyanair account to book flights, in a bid to stop screenscrapers.
It also now had 16 million app users and it will use the data from its customers this generates to further push ancillary sales through its Business Plus and Leisure Plus products.
The airline said it was digital and initiatives being driven by its Ryanair Labs division that is driving growth and prompted it to increase its passenger forecast from 180 million to 200 million by 2024.