More money is expected to be spent on holidays this year and to make the most of this, travel agents are being urged to create original content to compete with online booking agents.

A poll undertaken by the organisers of the British Travel Awards (BTA) found that all the respondents said they will use the internet to either research or book part or all of their holiday. They use websites for several reasons including destination research and price comparison.

The chief executive of the BTA, Lorraine Barnes Burton, says, “In order to compete with internet retailers, agents need to expand their own websites to include independent content that will satisfy their customers with constructive reviews.”

She went on to explain that this can be in the form of blogs, online news articles, social networking or reviews. The content needs to provide information not available elsewhere as that is what customers want to read.

The poll also found that holidays are no longer considered a luxury for many people who now consider them an essential part of maintaining a work-life balance.

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