A Maltese tourism portal has launched a new affiliate programme to promote Maltese accommodation on internet websites and enable Maltese hotels to use a single online booking engine.
"The affiliate programme is increasing the facility of tourists searching and obtaining availability and rates for a hotel stay in Malta," explained to i-Tech Jonathan Shaw, sales and marketing director at ChooseMalta.com, the promoter of the affiliate programme. "Once they are on third party websites, they are already interested in Malta or the topic that that particular website is about. By having an online hotel booking facility the tourist can be further enticed to consider Malta as his/her next destination."
There are already 70 hotels in booking system so the benefit is not to hotels but to other website that have a relation to Malta. These websites do not need to be travel related but the affiliate programme will give them the facility to sell Malta hotel bookings from their website and earn a five per cent commission on all bookings.
"We have had a good response and webmasters or website owners are contacting us to sign up. This is due to the fact that we offered an easy to use system, very transparent and more important we are providing a means for a website to generate extra revenue," said Mr Shaw. This initiative is further proof of the emergence of internet as an important channel for the Maltese tourism industry.
"Our tourism industry is still heavily based on tour operator business. Yet, this is changing. This change is evident worldwide and not only in Malta," explained Mr Shaw. "The internet and ease of booking online and creating individual travel plans has been a catalyst in this process. At ChooseMalta.com we are already attracting a considerable amount of individual travellers to Malta and this, in my opinion can only grow."
According to promoter of the affiliate programme the five most important factors that make or break a website are:
• Ease to use and navigate; • Speed in uploading pages and images; • Relative and concise information; • Pricing - price of services still plays an important role; • Security - user must feel at ease with paying online.
"Nonetheless, the website is only a means to promote and book a destination. There are obviously other factors why a tourist will choose Malta. From a web point of view, high search engine rankings are a plus to generate traffic to a website," concluded Mr Shaw.
http://www.choosemalta.com
"The affiliate programme is increasing the facility of tourists searching and obtaining availability and rates for a hotel stay in Malta," explained to i-Tech Jonathan Shaw, sales and marketing director at ChooseMalta.com, the promoter of the affiliate programme. "Once they are on third party websites, they are already interested in Malta or the topic that that particular website is about. By having an online hotel booking facility the tourist can be further enticed to consider Malta as his/her next destination."
There are already 70 hotels in booking system so the benefit is not to hotels but to other website that have a relation to Malta. These websites do not need to be travel related but the affiliate programme will give them the facility to sell Malta hotel bookings from their website and earn a five per cent commission on all bookings.
"We have had a good response and webmasters or website owners are contacting us to sign up. This is due to the fact that we offered an easy to use system, very transparent and more important we are providing a means for a website to generate extra revenue," said Mr Shaw. This initiative is further proof of the emergence of internet as an important channel for the Maltese tourism industry.
"Our tourism industry is still heavily based on tour operator business. Yet, this is changing. This change is evident worldwide and not only in Malta," explained Mr Shaw. "The internet and ease of booking online and creating individual travel plans has been a catalyst in this process. At ChooseMalta.com we are already attracting a considerable amount of individual travellers to Malta and this, in my opinion can only grow."
According to promoter of the affiliate programme the five most important factors that make or break a website are:
• Ease to use and navigate; • Speed in uploading pages and images; • Relative and concise information; • Pricing - price of services still plays an important role; • Security - user must feel at ease with paying online.
"Nonetheless, the website is only a means to promote and book a destination. There are obviously other factors why a tourist will choose Malta. From a web point of view, high search engine rankings are a plus to generate traffic to a website," concluded Mr Shaw.
http://www.choosemalta.com