KEY POINTS:
Few sections of the business world have been so transformed by the growth of the internet as the travel trade.
Indeed, few New Zealanders plan a major holiday or organise flights without using the internet at some stage of the deal.
Travel agencies are pinning their futures on bringing in customers through their own websites, rather than relying on a network of shops.
But there's now a twist - the arrival to our shores of the "meta-search", a search layer put in on top of the multitude of airline, hotel and travel websites.
Kiwi entrepreneur Dave Simmons this week launched the new approach for New Zealand travellers heading across the Tasman.
After 15 years' working in the travel industry in Britain, Simmons has returned with his family to New Zealand, bringing what he says is the unique "meta-search" business model.
A less-techy sounding name for meta-searching is "price comparison".
"From a consumer perspective, it's like going to a shopping mall and going to all the shops to compare prices on a pair of shoes, or on a suitcase that might be in three different shops," says Simmons. "Instead of going to all the shops - and getting the prices - we do that for you."
It's not a travel agency and the bookings are not taken on the site, but they are sent through to the ultimate booking agent. Essentially, the service checks hundreds of travel companies, wholesalers, the airlines and hotels looking for the best prices. It gets no commission but companies appearing on the site do pay a fee.
Simmons says the pitch of his site to the airlines, hotels or others is that it delivers "a highly qualified, targeted audience to our partners".
"Compared to advertising with Google, for instance, we say 'look - you'll get a far better return on your investment advertising with us because you get a good audience'."
Simmons has corralled more than 7500 tourism products on the site, including smaller operators, such as 164 Australian farmstay businesses, which struggle to get attention through traditional travel industry channels.
This is the sort of holiday that New Zealand travellers to Australia are increasingly looking for, he says.
"They are familiar with the destination but they want to get under the skin of Australia a bit more. The problem they have ... is that for a traditional tour operator, a farmstay is not going to be commercially viable on the basis of maybe one or two rooms - they can't put it in a brochure."
Another big selling point is the ability to get prices for accommodation that may, for example, be offered only through an Asian wholesaler. Now New Zealanders can get their hands on deals that had been difficult to find.
Australia Travel Market is targeting Kiwis wanting to go to Australia but its expansion plans are likely to focus on travelling to Asia.
The first individual site developed to sit within the Global Travel Market offering was the Australian version, which launched in January 2006.
Simmons says that in less than two years, his Australia Travel Market has developed into the leading portal for British holidaymakers planning to travel to Australia with more than 100,000 visitors a month on the site.
"We're giving Kiwis the same level of choice UK travellers take for granted, thanks to the growing role of meta-search engines."On the web: www.australiatravelmarket.co.nz
