Vacation surfing

Expedia, ebookers and Lastminute.com are the international online travel agents Polish players look up to - they learn from their experiences, combine them with their knowledge of the local market and thus manage to set high standards in the CEE region. In spite of the fast growth that has been observed recently in Polish e-commerce, the sector in the country is still in the first phase of development.

In 2004, the value of the Polish travel and tourism services market amounted to zł.1.72 billion, while the share of the online players was worth zł.35.3 million - some 2 percent of the overall figure and growing fast.

"The potential of the market is impressive, and online travel agents very often record annual sales growth above 100 percent. The positive trend was further strengthened by the introduction of low-fare airlines as the bulk of cheap tickets is sold via the internet," says Dawid Sadulski, PR and program manager at Travelplanet.pl.

The revenues of Travelplanet grew from zł.1.5 million in 2003 to zł.5.3 a year later. They are expected to increase further thanks to the launching of traditional points of sale in big cities all over Poland and this year's successful debut of the company on the Warsaw Stock Exchange.

Wakacje.pl is two years older and records very similar sales figures. They also had the idea to open traditional points of sale for more skeptical customers to get acquainted with the brand and the rules of e-commerce.

"In our Gdańsk office, customers are carefully instructed by the agent what the purchase and payment processes look like. People need to know that they don't give their money to some anonymous internet site, they like to see the human face. Once they have learned how it all works, they will be more eager to do their shopping online," explains Mariusz Panek, deputy CEO of Wakacje.pl. In October, a new Wakacje.pl point of sale will be opened in Olsztyn.

Even though the trips offered by online travel agents are not cheaper than the ones sold in a traditional offices, buyers have a very wide offer at their disposal. "Wakacje.pl and Travelplanet are the only agents in Poland where you can find trips organized by virtually all tour operators. Besides, people want to save time. Instead of looking all over the city for the perfect package, they just click on the one they like most. It's the idea of a one-stop shop that appeals to them," says Panek.

According to Dawid Sadulski from Travelplanet, online travel agents are the future of the tourism sector. "Just look at what's going on in Western Europe - e-commerce has dominated the travel business. It is just a matter of a couple of years for the same to happen in Poland."

Katarzyna Dębek