E-COMMERCE
Lastminute.com to launch Irish site
24-05-2004
by Craig Liddell
On-line travel agency, Lastminute.com, will set up an Irish Web site in July, pitting itself against a host of other companies.
Irish consumers will shortly be able to buy last minute travel, entertainment and gifts on an Irish version of the British-based Web site, Lastminute.com, according to a report in the Irish Times. The company, founded by millionaire Internet entrepreneur, Martha Lane Fox, will launch on 1 July.
Lastminute.com, which is often cited as a prime example of the rise and fall of a dot-com stock, already operates localised Web sites in 11 countries including Australia, Japan, Italy and Germany. With its Irish business, Lastminute is expected to follow its already successful international strategy of offering last minute deals that can be bought on-line using a credit card.
However, the company operates in a highly crowded market with several companies competing for the on-line travel euro and pound.
In March, Lastminute.com bought Online Travel Corporation (OTC) for STG54.9 million (EUR83.16 million). The company also purchased the specialist hotel booking agency, First Option Hotel, for STG 12.1 million (18.11 million) in January and in December 2003 the company purchased Med Hotels, a hotel consolidator and package holiday reseller, for STG16.1 million (EUR24.10 million).
Also on the acquisition path is Ebookers, which announced a first-quarter profit in May as the company prepares to axe 200 jobs. The company made a pre-tax profit of STG1.3 million (EUR1.95 million) on sales of STG158 million (EUR237.30 million), which represents a 47 percent increase on a STG4.9 million loss in the corresponding quarter last year.
Central to Ebooker's strategy is the acquisition of other travel firms whose sales processes are then moved on-line.
A day after Ebooker's results announcement in May, Scandinavian on-line travel company, Travelstart Nordic AB, took control of Cork-based Openjet. The company's Web property, which lets users compare and book low-cost tickets from airlines such as Easyjet, MytravelLite, and BMIbaby, will operate as a platform for Travelstart Nordic AB's international expansion.
Although the marketplace is crowded, several analysts predict the on-line travel market will continue to grow.
On-line travel sales in Europe skyrocketed by more than 40 percent during 2003, according to Denmark-based Centre for Regional and Tourism Research, with another significant jump expected this year.
The April 2004 report said the Western European on-line travel market could reach EUR20.2 billion or 8.5 percent of the market by 2006. The UK accounted for 39 percent of the European on-line travel market in 2003, with Germany in second place at 23 percent.
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