Tourism Industry News
UK online agencies admit to job cuts
Leading online travel agencies in the
Ebookers is understood to have made a number of sales consultant positions redundant in December and lastminute.com also confirmed that cuts have been made.
The news comes as speculation mounts that online travel agencies could be at the sharp end of a tightening economy as consumers turn to established tour operators with large marketing spend or direct sales with airlines and hotels.
Rumours surfaced of cuts at Ebookers in December and parent company Orbitz Worldwide last week said it would add another $20 million to its existing cost cutting programme of around $25 million from across the business, although this expected to come primarily from overhauling its technology partnerships.
Ebookers managing director Alan Josephs said: “We did have some strong
“We decided for efficiency reasons to fully migrate all of this business to our existing third party call centres in
Expedia declined to comment regarding any cuts at the agency.
However, a lastminute.com spokeswoman told Travolution: “Like any business in travel or otherwise we are impacted by the challenging financial climate and have to look for ways to operate in the most cost efficient way possible.
“There have been some redundancies but most notably we have taken active steps to reduce our overhead costs in other ways.”
Source: Travolution