Travelzoo set to stir up Australian Internet travel market

Stuart Corner
Wednesday, 24 October 2007 05:59

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NASDAQ-listed travel website, Travelzoo, will open an office in Sydney in November. It will follow an opening in Shanghai, will be followed by Taipei by year end and seems likely to be followed by an aggressive marketing campaign.

Chairman and CEO, Ralph Bartel, said: "While we expect these initiatives to have a material negative impact on our earnings in 2007 and 2008, due to significant expenses related to subscriber marketing campaigns in new markets and operating losses during the start-up phase, we believe that it is an attractive strategy for Travelzoo in the long-term." In March, Travelzoo opened an office in France, followed by Hong Kong in April and Japan in September. The company already operates an Australia/NZ portal (http://au.travelzoo.com/ ) listing "This Week's Top 20 Travel Deals on the Internet."

The company has not indicated how it intends to promote itself in Australia, or elsewhere in the region. However, if its recent track record in the US is any indication it will make a bid splash. In July in the US it launched what it claimed was the world's first interactive advertising campaign in an airport, at Las Vegas' McCarran International Airport. On concourses A & B "gigantic projections show real time travel deals currently featured on Travelzoo's Web site as travellers walk past." In Concourse D "real time travel deals 'spin' on Travelzoo slot machines when consumers engage the [2.5 x 6 metre] advertisement."  In Concourse C, "travellers can get the chance to star in their own ad as they are projected into two huge interactive plasma screens using immersion technology."

Travelzoo said: "This is the first time this technology has been used in advertising anywhere in the US. Along with being projected into the plasma screens, travellers are personally greeted by Travelzoo in the advertisement. All five advertisements feature the Travelzoo Top 20 ticker which lists real time travel deals published by Travelzoo.