|
ABOUT: UK TRAVEL SEARCH:
Business Environment:
The advent of the internet for travel distribution in its formative years (2000-2006) initially saw a first phase of online travel operators ‘hijacking’ travel suppliers (primarily accommodation and tour suppliers) inventory and identity and ultra deep discounting the pricing of their inventory, particulary with late breaking ‘Last Minute’ specials. The owners/suppliers of travel products such as accommodation and tour providers were initially slow to take up direct selling to the public due to the previous commitments to their existing travel distribution chain, both online travel operators and traditional wholesale and retail travel agents.In particular, small to medium (SME) tourism businesses (accommodation properties and B&B's), particularly in less marketed regional areas, could not sustain this deep discounting through extensive commissions to wholesale and retail travel agents to sell their product(s)
Today, in what we term the ‘second phase’ (Web 2) of online travel distribution, suppliers are now increasingly taking back online control of their inventory and identity. Suppliers are now increasingly looking to transact direct with the public and sell their product DIRECT to the customer - thus controlling their own inventory and pricing - offering the customer deep discounts and value prices gained from the cost savings from not using travel agents for all of their product distribution.
What is UK Travel Search?:
We are NOT a travel operator nor a travel agent, we don’t sell products or charge fees, and we do not receive commissions. We also do not provide travel services, personalised travel information or travel itinerary assistance of any kind.
Established in 2002, UK Travel Search (UKTS) is plain and simple, a highly regarded specialist Travel and Tourism Directory & Vertical Search Engine as well as an extensive *Tourism Guide (*creating our OWN unbiased travel & tourism information) for Britain and Ireland. Any bona fide travel or tourism supplier can list their services and direct contact details on UKTS, enabling customers to book DIRECT with them, so that their customers can enjoy the saving benefits and financial comfort of dealing DIRECTLY with the supplier.
UKTS is fully owned and operated by Travel Match Ltd, a specialist Travel Company with over 50 years of combined management expertise within the global travel & tourism field. We also are highly experienced with online travel industry specific marketing services including web site design and development, SEO (Search Engine Marketing) and were pioneers in this field founding Australia’s first online inbound operation back in 1996.
We have also now launched our Travel Marketing Representation Service for offshore Travel Operators and Travel Businesses requiring promotion and marketing of their businesses to both the travel trade and the public here in the UK.
Management
 Graeme Archer
Managing Director
After founding Travel Online in Australia with his wife Nikki in 1995, this multi award winning online travel business was sold in 2001 and Graeme and his wife Nikki moved back to the UK in 2002 and co-founded Travel Match. As Chief Executive Officer of Travel Match Graeme has the overall responsibility for all Travel Match operating divisions including UK Travel Search, Ancestor Travel and the Australian Travel Company.
Graeme's tourism career spans over 25 continuous years, with extensive airline, wholesale, and online travel management experience. Executive appointments held include managerial positions in Australian Airlines (now Qantas) United Airlines, Owner/Managing Director of Pacifica Holidays (Australia), Director of Marketing for Sheraton Mirage (Australia), and co-founder and Managing Director of Travel Online (Australia & UK) (1994-2001)
Graeme has an extensive senior business background in both the UK and Australian travel & tourism markets, as well as being a global pioneer of specialised online travel services.
 Tony Gurnick
Development Director
Tony’s career in IT spans over 15 years. He is an experienced and senior project developer with an extensive background both with the Internet as well as many other corresponding technologies, and also has a keen interest in learning and experiencing new technologies. Tony has also worked in a variety of public facing industries including Special Events, Travel and Tourism, Advertising, Publishing and the Dairy industry. Tony founded and ran a very successful Internet Web Hosting and Web design business in NZ, before moving to the UK and London in April 2005 to take up the position of Development Director with Travel Match Ltd.
Tony has extensive network and administration experience having scoped, designed and built various web projects including large intranets and web sites, as well as being an expert in the development of database driven web based applications. Tony also has experience with the following applications: Object Oriented PHP, CGI, MS SQL, mySQL, JavaScript, J2EE, C, HTML, CSS, ASP.NET, T-SQL, & VBScript, as well as Cold Fusion, Dreamweaver, Homesite, Front Page, NOF and Photoshop.
|
