FairBooking launches campaign to drive bookings direct away from OTAs

FairBooking launches campaign to drive bookings direct away from OTAs

A campaign has been launched which encourages travellers to book direct, rather than with OTAs.

A campaign has been launched which encourages travellers to book direct, rather than with OTAs.

FairBooking UK was soft launched last year between Cumbria Tourism, thenewforest.co.uk and Visit Cornwall, with the aim of encouraging people to book with accommodation providers and via official destination organisations.

Businesses across Wales have now signed up to the not-for-profit campaign.

Now the specifics of the campaign have been finalised, it’s poised to be rolled out to “all businesses and destinations”.

“OTAs play an important role in marketing, but encouraging visitors to book direct, making savings on the high commissions charged, has to be preferable,” read a statement from FairBooking UK.

“Doing so allows more revenue to be retained in the local economy and therefore underpins the sustainable tourism principles that we all strive to achieve.”

Businesses are intended to play a vital role in the campaign and are encouraged to promote the FairBooking message in their properties, on their websites and through social media.

In turn, they can use the Fairbookinguk.com website to market themselves for free. However any bookings received through the website will be subject to 10% commission.

“France is way ahead of the UK in this type of campaign,” said Ian Stephens, managing director of Cumbria Tourism.

“We need to catch up and start collaborating on the important case for direct booking, and getting some of these commissions back to our destinations and businesses.”

“This is not about us trying to take on OTAs, we would never stand a chance of that.

“It’s more about being collaborative with destinations and helping each other to promote responsible tourism.

“Many smaller businesses can’t afford to be on those sites. Perhaps a small hotel could offer an incentive like offering a free bottle of wine to the those who book directly.”