Travellers storming the travel group’s websites as the volcanic ash subsides

The pressure on the travel industry has been enormous in connection with the eruption of the volcano Eyjafjallajökull on Iceland. Over the last few weeks, eTRAVELi had nearly 30,000 customers who were prevented from completing their trips because of the volcanic eruption. Now travellers are starting to book trips again and the pressure on the group’s websites, such as Supersavertravel and Seat24, is intense.  The volcanic eruption has not dampened travel demand; quite the opposite.

Traffic on all the group’s websites is extremely high and bookings are flooding into Supersavertravel, Seat24, Travelstart and Flygvaruhuset. The problems of the last few weeks with ash in the air do not seem to have scared off travellers, quite the opposite in fact as it has created built up demand to book holiday trips.  

Book trips abroad now
Over the last few weeks, eTRAVELi had nearly 30,000 customers who could complete their trips because of the volcanic eruption. These customers now want to take their trips and many who had booked a spring trip have now rebooked for the summer holiday. For this reason, people interested in travelling abroad this summer should book their travel now.

"It's a good idea to book your holiday now if you want the lowest price possible. There's a risk that trips will sell out and the more bookings that come in, the higher the prices. The cheapest tickets are sold first", explains Ralph Axelson, CEO of eTRAVELi.. 

The eruption no diminishing travel demand
Ralph Axelson is not worried about future travel sales. He has worked in the travel industry through some of its most difficult times, including the 2001 terrorist attacks and the tsunami in Southeast Asia. He feels confident in his business and its products.

"In the industry's previous crises, we have always picked ourselves up and succeed in increasing our sales. This time we aren't seeing any decrease in demand for travel, in fact quite the opposite. People are really eager to travel now.”

About European Travel Interactive AB (eTRAVELi)
eTRAVELi is the online travel agency group with the highest market share in the Nordic countries (close to 45%). eTRAVELi offers airline tickets, hotel reservations, car rental and other travel-related products through multiple brands, and the group is represented in six countries. In 2009 the group had sales of SEK 3.5 billion and excellent profits.  eTRAVELi's portfolio currently includes the brands Seat24, Supersavertravel, Flygvaruhuset, Travelstart, Gotogate.no and Flybillet.dk.

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