Peter Lacaze has questioned the merits of developing online booking engines with the Stella chief executive insisting he has yet to see any proof that it is worth the investment.
Speaking to Travel Today, Lacaze admitted his views were at odds with common thinking but said he remains a firm sceptic of the need to transact online.
“I probably should be more enthusiastic but I follow the numbers, not the stories,” Lacaze said. “I have not seen any evidence that it works. No evidence at all. Transactions through Harvey World Travel are pitiful.”
The controversial views are certain to be rejected in some quarters, something Lacaze said he was prepared to face. “Everyone jumps to say you must have an online booking engine but it’s not the only way of being web enabled,” he said.
“Of the $8 or $9 billion outbound flight market, you’d be lucky to get $300 to $500 million online. It’s nothing. Will the Internet grow to take half the market? Not in my lifetime.
“This is an inconvenient fact,” he added, describing the online figures as a “rounding environment”.
Travelscene American Express is using its recently launched sites as a brand extension and to list stores, he said, while Best Flights, Stella’s Perth-based online retailer, is partially a call centre.
Read more from Peter Lacaze in tomorrow’s Travel Today.
