The long-awaited launch of TravelMail.co.uk, the new portal from the owners of the Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday newspapers and Teletext Holidays, will finally take place on May 9. Travolution can reveal the site will be officially unveiled next week after an extended period of user testing. The site has been under development since late-2006…
TravelMail to launch on May 9
The long-awaited launch of TravelMail.co.uk, the new portal from the owners of the Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday newspapers and Teletext Holidays, will finally take place on May 9.
Travolution can reveal the site will be officially unveiled next week after an extended period of user testing.
The site has been under development since late-2006 and has already had a provisional launch date postponed from mid-March.
It is understood that an early version of the site did not meet the expectations of bosses at the Daily Mail & General Trust, prompting the delay.
The TravelMail project has been widely anticipated in industry circles amid a flurry of activity in the travel channels of other national newspaper brands.
The Guardian and Times recently re-launched their travel sections with massively enhanced functionality and content.
TravelMail is expected to replace the existing ThisIsTravel brand and act as an aggregator for travel editorial content from across the Associated Newspapers portfolio, the press division of the Daily Mail & General Trust.
Speaking in March, after Travolution discovered the delay, a spokesperson said: “After initial technical testing the depth and quality of the site did not reflect the brand.
“As a result, the decision has been taken to launch the site at a later date (approx early to mid May), to ensure that it offers customers the level of quality and service that they are used to from the Daily Mail group.”
Meanwhile, Teletext has confirmed 40 members of staff from across the business will face redundancy following the merger of the Teletext Holidays Online and Holidays On TV businesses.
