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SEO For Travel Agencies – Competing With the Travel Industry Titans

The last ten years have not been easy for independent travel agencies. Marketing costs have risen while legislation has regulated the industry. Despite these challenges, millions of consumers use Google and Yahoo! to plan their vacations and business trips. They book cruises; they reserve hotel accommodations; they purchase airline tickets. And many of these travelers want your help.

If you can position your website in front of them, your travel business will flourish. SEO and internet marketing for travel agencies offers a cost-effective solution for reaching these travelers.

Online Marketing For Travel Agencies Increases Your Visibility

Exposure is critical for independent travel agencies. Marketing efforts should be driven by a search engine optimization campaign that positions your agency as a seamless solution for travelers’ needs. This increases your visibility to your market. By placing your website in the top positions in Google and Yahoo!, our team of SEO experts can help you attract consumers who need your expertise.

Online marketing should focus on search engine optimization because more travelers than ever are using Google as their first planning resource. In fact, according to the Travel Industry Association, 70% of travelers go online to plan their trips. That trend will only grow. Our search engine optimization specialists can position your website in front of these travelers at the moment they search for your services.

Key Advantages Of SEO For Travel Agencies

In order to thrive, your travel business needs to generate results that are cost-effective and measurable. You also need timely exposure to a motivated target audience. These are the benefits of launching a search engine optimization campaign for travel agencies. Marketing efforts that are spearheaded by an SEO campaign help consumers find your company when they go online to plan their trips.

Internet Marketing For Travel Agencies Attracts Customers

Millions of travelers realize the industry titans cannot offer the finely-tuned travel plans provided by independent agents. These consumers are using Google and Yahoo! to find alternatives. This is the reason online marketing for travel agencies has become the most effective advertising channel for local agents. By using a search engine optimization campaign, they can compete with the industry leviathans. In fact, SEO for travel agencies blends the most potent elements of online promotion.

Driving Results With Search Engine Optimization

One of the reasons search engine optimization and internet marketing has become so popular is because the industry is so competitive. The titans have all but dominated the market (or, at least, that’s how it seems). Making matters worse, traditional advertising is costly and often fails to generate results.

By contrast, search engine optimization for travel agencies offers a cost-effective strategy for competing – and even trumping – the industry behemoths. And that’s where our team of SEO experts can help.

We have been creating effective SEO campaigns for our clients for over a decade. Due to our longstanding track record of success, noted search authority “Top SEOs” recently presented us with their coveted “Best In Search” award. We can duplicate this same level of success for your travel agency.

When we begin working together with you, we’ll close our doors to your local competitors. That allows us to focus our efforts on your search engine optimization campaign.

Travel Agencies and the Convenience

The 21st century is a time wherein everything that people want is available over the internet. Life has been customized to take a shape which will make it easy for humans to do even the most cumbersome tasks at the push of a button. Among the most fascinating of these services is that of online travel agencies. Even if a person wants to move from one place to the other, he/she can log-on to any of the numerous online travel agencies and hire a cab, book an airline ticket, buy a cruise permit and loads of other things.

The travel industry is the only one where there are sales all throughout the year. Trains, buses, cars, flight, cruises and all modes of transportation are always under operation. Hence, it can be rightfully said that the availability of travel services being online has been a response to their huge demand 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and 365 days a year.

The growth of the travel industry has also been very inspiring. The invention of the airplane and car by the Wright Brothers and Henry Ford respectively brought about a revolution in human history. They created a brand new market for the entire world. A service which was highly needed since time immemorial. Since their inception back in the mid 1900s to this date, both the segments have gone from strength to strength and are currently among the world’s largest industries. Today, hundreds of brands fight in the market just to grab your attention and make you buy their services and their job is to some extent made easy by travel agencies.

This brings us to the question, why do we need travel agencies? The answer to this question is very simple. They are required because they are in demand. When you intend to travel, it is quite difficult to check the listings of all the airlines and cabs that you can use. Not just can it be confusing but also pretty long and tiresome. To avoid all this hassle for people, these agencies do the job of finding the transport services that best match the customer. With their help, a customer can specify his requirements and get a service nearly tailor-made for him. The customer has the freedom to choose destinations, prices, service provider and also the time when he wants the service to be delivered. Now if all this was to be done manually, the person would have to get the schedules of all the airlines flying to the destination city on a particular date and compare their prices and check which among them would be affordable and available (seats). The same applies with cab services; it would need calling cab drivers one by one to see who can deliver. With the help of travel agencies, you can just make a call or send an email specifying your details and relieve yourself of all this stress. Within no time, you get the results which fit your requirement.

Travel Agency Jobs – Travel Agent Employment is Hard to Find If You Don’t Have Experience

I was curious and went out to the big job websites and almost all of the travel agency jobs that I found wanted at least 2 years experience. So, what happens to the person that wants to enter the industry, but doesn’t have any experience, I guess they are out of luck. To be honest, I really wasn’t too impressed with the pay range either, especially starting out. So, what does a person do if they desire travel agent employment?

If they want it bad enough, then I am sure employment would be found, but it could possibly takes years since most agencies require experience. There are travel agent study home courses you could also take, but I am not sure if they help you find a job or help you in getting the experience in order to get a job. That is something that would need to be researched further.

For those that really want to be involved in the travel industry and that have a lot of motivation and desire, there is the option of a travel business opportunity. There are so many perks to this option. You can be your own boss, work when you want to, take vacations when you want to, and most important, you determine your paycheck. If you wish to make more, then you simply work more.

With most business opportunities you can actually start your travel business right from home. This is so beneficial because then you won’t have the expense of renting office space and having additional bills, like an electric bill and a phone bill. Working from home is not always easy, as you can get easily distracted. But, as long as you can get around that, then this may be an option for you.

The downside of some opportunities is that since you are the boss, you are in charge of the marketing and everything else for that matter. To increase you chance of success, you need to have a team of leaders to support you. Let’s face it with anything new, you are going to have questions. There needs to be a place for you to ask these questions to get your answers. Also, training must be a priority. Unless you are a marketing expert already, you will need training on how to market. If you don’t know how to market your business, then how will you make any sales? People need training that is easy to follow and easy to learn. Like most new business owners, most don’t take this seriously and wind up failing. So, if you wish for success, then ensure that there is a training program already in place.

Jobs in Travel Agencies Are Not Always Easy To Fill

There are a lot of different types of jobs in travel agencies that are often difficult to fill with qualified candidates. Not everybody is good at planning trips. They are not always familiar with areas that they are sending travelers to either.

When someone is planning a trip, they need to makes sure that they are planning a trip that is going to be fun for the people who are traveling, not just a place to go. Planning activities in the area will require a travel agent to know a little bit about the area. While these things can often be looked up online, not everything will be.

It is important to have a lot of knowledge of places all over the world when planning a trip. Their customers are expecting them to plan a trip for them that they will never forget. They need to get them the best hotel for their budget as well as having it be something that is going to fit the needs of the family.

When planning a trip, it is not always easy to stick to a budget but people have to do it. This makes it very difficult to find someone to fill these positions. There are many different things that they need to know about.

A lot of people will look at a job at a travel agency as a fun and exciting one. It is a lot of work and requires a lot of research and planning. Not everybody is able to plan these types of things and keep the guests on a schedule.

With all of the different types of things that people are looking at, there are many places that are going to fit their needs. Some people want to stay in the same location for the entire trip but others want to stay in one place one night then move to another place the next night and so on. This makes it difficult to plan out these trips.

Everybody has different interests. There needs to be different types of trips planned for each group. Some groups are very large and will need everything planned down to the bus that they will be using to get there and their meals also.

This is going to be a fun job but not every guest will go with the trip that the travel agent has planned for them. They will need to start over and plan completely different activities in some cases. Other times, they may only need to change a couple of things.

They need to talk to the people who are going to be traveling and figure out what kinds of things they are interested in seeing and doing. This should be done before starting any plans. Some people like to do a lot of sightseeing while others like to visit all of the shopping centers or tourist attractions around the area.

Everybody is going to have different kinds of interests. They have to be able to plan stuff that is going to be fun for someone else, not necessarily what is going to be fun for them. Finding these people is not always very easy though.

The travel agencies may have to rely on another agency to refer these people to them. It can take a long time to find the best qualified applicant for the job. Everybody likes to travel but having a knowledge of traveling locally and internationally is going to be must.

There are a lot of different things that people are going to be looking at doing in their lifetime. While some of the travel agents that are hired do not understand why people want to see certain things, it is their job to make it happen. Jobs at travel agencies have to be filled with people who are familiar with many different types of travel and many places in the world.

Travel Agency Jobs – Top 5 Mistakes to Avoid

All it takes is a little bit of research. This could be your first step to avoid sending your application or resume off into an unorganized stack of others that most likely, will never get looked at. Below are some of the everyday mistakes people make when trying to find travel agency jobs.

1. Forgetting to do the proper research:

You can’t just walk into an interview at a travel agency and have no idea what the company’s focus is. Do they specialize in cruises? Do they devote themselves to making travel arrangements for a specific demographic? These are things people tend to disregard. Big mistake!

2. By proper, I mean thorough!:

If you don’t look as far into an agency as possible, this could lead to much regret in the long run. Detailed research is a must when hunting for travel agency jobs. What if the travel agency you start working for turns out to have a terrible reputation? For example, the company offers travel packages that claim to be the best deal when really, they are not.

3. Door to door searching:

When people are desperately trying looking, they visit as many agencies as possible, hence the name “door to door.” They fill out as many applications as they can, attaching resumes to each. This strategy is a weak one for travel agency jobs because you won’t always get to speak with the employer. Your application goes to someone else, who forgets to give it to the hiring manager.

4. Lacking experience:

Aspiring travel agents make the error of relying completely on their education. Don’t get me wrong, proper education in this field is more than useful, but hands-on experience is also quite valuable. Get out there and travel yourself. A travel agent cannot gain the trust of a client without visiting different locations of the world or trying out several methods of travel. Experience is key!

5. Seeking an employer (What about working for yourself??):

Working for someone else’s travel agency can be great, but you should never overlook the possibility of starting your own!

Consider these common mistakes to help you avoid making them yourself. It’s a great way to find rewarding travel agency jobs. Amelia T. invites you to log onto [http://www.Travel-Agency-Jobs.com] to find out about other helpful tips and tricks in the industry.

Choosing the Right All Inclusive Travel Deals

People travel for numerous reasons. Either they serve a professional purpose or they are searching for places in which they can just relax and have fun. For that, they are always in the lookout for things that would make their travel experiences worthwhile. This is why convenience and budget are very much considered by any type of traveller. Luckily, there are now all inclusive travel deals being offered both online and offline. These are deals that you can check out when you are looking for service providers who can book and reserve an entire trip for you. But why should you really want all inclusive travel deals?

One reason you should choose all inclusive travel deals is that they cut your expenses by a really wide margin. Definitely, the “all inclusive” phrase refers a lot to the amount of money you have to spend for your travels. Especially if you are travelling to a foreign land, you can expect to be charged with exorbitant fees and humongous bills. Local travels are just as expensive. Therefore, what you should look for are travel arrangements that will provide everything you need for the entire trip-fare, hotel, food, and local tripping among others.

In this case, you need a travel agent who can make arrangements for your trip. If you consider it closely, you would find that the deals your agent offers are priced cheaper than when you spend on separate arrangements on your own. For example, a package of both the fare and the accommodations is a lot cheaper than if you buy a plane ticket and book a hotel separately. This may be brought by the fact that travel agencies have ties with other service providers. But surely, they can get arrangements done fast and cheap.

Another reason you can have for choosing all inclusive travel deals is that you need not to worry about making separate arrangements to cover for everything that you will need for your trip. This goes very much like the first reason except that you refer more to the effort of arranging a trip than to the amount you will be spending. Truly, all inclusive travel deals lessen your TTDs (things-to-do) when planning a trip.

Almost all travel agencies are reliable in this particular task. They enable you to come out with a scheduled flight, full hotel accommodation, and even a complete local itinerary before you even fly out to your destination. When you try to arrange for everything individually, you will have difficulties because service providers like airlines and hotels are not easily contacted. Further, you cannot book the trip on your preferred customized schedule-and this is very possible with the help of travel agents.

Finally, if you are asking why you choose all inclusive travel deals, then you should understand that these arrangements would help you go to more places than you originally plan to be in. Well, if you consider how much time and money you are saving from one trip to another when you choose all inclusive travel deals, then you would know this last reason is very valid. After two or three trips, you would be surprised to know that you have saved a good enough sum for yet another travel.

This is a perk of all inclusive travel deals that many people like because everyone loves a good travel experience. It broadens your mind and exposes you to different societies. Therefore, you need to choose travel deals that would help you plan more than a couple of travels without requiring you to pay for huge amounts.

Ultimately, all inclusive travel deals are not only part of a bandwagon now. True, people are becoming more familiar with arranging travels especially those bound for other countries. This may be caused by the ever-encompassing Internet that allows for online arrangements of everything that you might need for a better travel experience. But at the end of the day, if you are really after the affordability and convenience of a trip, then going for all inclusive deals is the best decision to make. Just choose the right kind of travel deal and you are off to that escapade you have always dreamed of.

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Last Minute Travel Deals – Save a Tremendous Amount of Money

These days, there is a lot of competition going on in the travel industry. People are getting more and more options for finding the last minute travel packages. They, however, require to research a lot to find the best rates. Compare the cost of air tickets of different airlines and then make a choice.

No one likes to spend money on travelling. If you are looking forward to saving money, then you have to be flexible, willing to travel at odd hours, make your reservations around one to two months before the date of flying. One can search for the best rates in travel on the internet. The websites offer competitive rates

The last minute travel deals cover everything from hotel reservations, airline tickets, etc. The websites has an user-friendly interface and helps you to get the best airline travel deals for you. These online shops are a great way to compare the various rates online and find the one that fits your needs.

There are many airlines that offer discounts on weekends. Browse through for some fabulous travel deals. Often, people get amazing airfares but they are unable to go for the vacation because they think that they would not be able to do the packing in the last minute. So, you should pack your bags before looking for the right opportunity. The last minute travel can help you to save a significant amount of money. But you should be flexible enough to make compromises for the last minute travel.

Many of us are not great planners when it comes to going for vacation. The last minute travel deals which have become a very popular in the recent times. These exciting deals are cost effective and offer competitive rates. Visit the best travel websites and look for amazing options in travel.

The last minute deals are designed to meet your needs to a great extent. There are deals available for all classes like luxury, economy, budget and premium. As far as accommodation is concerned, the various options are guest houses, pubs, small hotels and apartments. For getting these last minute deals, you have to be flexible enough as you need to leave a day earlier or later to save fares. You do not get much time to think as may be you have to leave the very next day.

These brilliant and astounding travel deals are easily found on the Internet or through a travel agent. You would find these deals beneficial. Many airlines sell the tickets at lower rates to fill up the vacant seats. So, if you want to go on a vacation without spending a huge amount of money, these deals are the best for you. Take advantage of these deals and take those much needed holidays at the lowest price. Be prepared to go on a short notice and take full advantage of such deals. If you do not have much money to spend on travelling, the last minute travel deals are for you. Nothing can now stop you from going anywhere.

The internet is the best place to find such Last Minute Travel deals. It is packed with deals having cheap hotels, discounted travel packages, travel tickets, etc. One can easily find these deals on the internet. These are not only convenient but also affordable. These deals are updated on a daily basis. So, get your relaxing vacation this year by searching for the hottest deals. You do not need to spend too much this summer. Save your hard earned money and avail affordable prices while going to exotic locations. You just need to be flexible to make your travel exciting and full of adventure.

Cheapest Airline Tickets – How to Find Best Travel Deals

So you are in the market for cheap airline tickets, but not sure where to start and how to find the best travel deals. The reality is that in order to find the cheapest flight fares and schedules you need to know when and where to look and how to search. Yes, it is that easy, and all you need to know is several tricks. First of all, do you need a domestic or an international travel ticket?

Domestic Air Travel

These can be US domestic flight or flights within Europe, or within any country or other continent. If you are looking great flight deals, you need to know WHERE to look for low airfares. If you are looking for flights within the US, you may contact local US airlines or travel agencies or look up flights on the online travel search engine.

Airlines compete among each other and they can give great flight deals (just know WHEN to look). Travel agencies might also find you great deals. Here is the truth… lately several airlines and several large and well known travel agencies started having some issues and several airline banned those huge agencies from selling their airline tickets. Therefore, small and specialized agencies still do have very good contracts with major airlines of the world. So, my advise is to look who has the best flight deal, not at the size of the agency or the popularity. At the end of the day, it matters how much you pay for the ticket and that you have a confirmed seat.

Most smaller travel agencies have online only booking so they can save YOU money by eliminating staff salaries. Most of the time travel agencies use the same fares as airlines offer (unless negotiated better rates), but usually with 0 commission. Since agencies need to survive, they are forced to add a small service fee on the top of the ticket price. If you do not mind that, call your travel agent or best of all go online and check flights yourself. If you are traveling within Europe, you might want to contact a travel agent or search online travel agents’ websites first. In Europe local travel agencies and agencies outside Europe that specialize in international travel will have low fares because they use very low so called consolidator fares. This is nothing else, but negotiated contracts with airlines to sell special very low priced airline tickets.

International Travel

Whether you live in the US or other country, you travel internationally if you leave your country of residence.

What concerns transatlantic, transpacific or other between countries international travel, your best bet is a travel agency. The consolidators will offer you the best fare deals and will find you the best schedules. Depending on personal preferences, some might prefer talking to a travel agent, while others would want to do their own fare search online at their own pace. There is no right or wrong choice here. As long as you find a flight and a fare that works for you, you succeed. HOW to find a travel agency or a good travel website Always work with the travel agent or travel website that specializes in your travel destination or region. For example, if you need to fly from the US to Europe, search for ‘flights to Europe’ or so. Usually online search will give you best results. Check several websites or call several travel agents and compare the deals.

NOTE, you might know lots of huge agencies like Travelocity, Orbitz, etc. They might seem attractive to you because they are big and well known. But they will not always give you the best flight, hotel or cruise deals. They might be good for US domestic travel, but not always for international travel.

HOW and WHEN to search for best fares

Where you need a flight, hotel or a cruise, you need to know how to find the best fares and when to look for those. Let’s say that you found a travel agent or travel website that specialized in your travel destination.

5 tips on How to Find your Best Travel Deal:

Be Flexible. In order to find lowest price, you might need to be flexible on travel dates, arrival/departure times, airlines, and sometimes destinations. In short, there are different price levels for every flight and the only difference is the price and number of seats an airline assigns to that price level. Therefore, all depends on when you buy a ticket, how popular is the destination, travel season (peak or low), and how full the flight gets.
Book domestic travel tickets as early as you can (this applied to some international travel as well). Most domestic airlines have best fares with 21, 14, and 7 day advance purchase. This means that you may find lower fares when booking (= purchasing) a flight this many days before the flight.
‘Play’ with the search. This means that you need to be creative when searching for flights. Check flights couple days or weeks (if possible) earlier and later, check various airlines, different connections (an airline might have several hubs or fly with 1 or several connections), search based on price and try searching based on schedule (you’ll see different results).
Check travel package deals. If the purpose of your travel is vacation, instead of booking flights, hotel, and car rental separately, check on travel package rates. Sometimes your total package rate is lower that if you book everything separately.
Use miles or points when possible. Apply for airline/ hotel/ car rental, etc. frequent traveler programs. They are FREE, and you can get lots of benefits. For example, I cannot remember the last time I paid for a hotel room when Hilton Hotel is in my destination. Check out hiltonhhonors.com website. Go to the airline, car rental, or hotel websites and sign up. The only disadvantage of using miles and points is that you need to book your travel early as there is limited number of seats for miles or points on the plane and they go fast.

If you cannot decide whether to use an airline or a travel agent, here are some suggestions.

AIRLINE vs. TRAVEL AGENT/AGENCY WEBSITE

Advantages of booking a ticket with an airline:

you are talking directly to the carrier, the entity responsible for a flight
it may take much less time to deal with the airline directly (if an agent knows his/her job)
airline customers representatives are usually open 24/7

Advantages of using travel agents or travel websites:

lower negotiated (consolidator) fares
more flight options; travel agents/travel websites search all possible airlines, not just one
low fares available 24/7 given that an agency has a online booking system

Travel Deals – Getting The Most From Your Travel Discounts

There are many reasons why firms offer reduced, or discounted travel deals, ranging from flights, up to packages which include several components, all inclusive in one price.

One of the main reasons for travel deals is the unsold places. Competition can also play a part in further reductions in list prices.

Before giving you a whole list of tips to get the best travel deals and discounts, I want to show you a amazingly simple but brilliant technique that you can use pretty much in most places and for most products and services.

I have used the technique all over the place it works so well it is almost unbelievable. But it is so simple that you may dismiss it without trying. I want you to be mentally prepared and be willing to give it a try, so here we go.

To get a discount or a bargain in most places, even in a high class boutique or a high street store, what you need to do is: “ASK”. Yes, just “ask”. But also I want you to remember, as they say, “… it is not what you say, but the way you say it …” that really counts.

So, to get a discount, you need to keep your intention to ‘buy’ to yourself until you’re ready to make your payment. You must always appear like you’re not convinced yet and that if the sales person doesn’t “do better” “he will lose” the deal. But you should also seem reasonably interested or else the sales person will think you’re not serious and therefore he won’t try to sweeten the deal for you.

OK, so how do you do all of the above? Easy and this is how I’ve done it for travel deals all the way to buying just 2 shirts at an up market men’s boutique – yes for just 2 shirts:

* I get information on the various options (be it travel deals or shirts).

* I decide what I want but will only – and this is the very important part – tell the sales person about a portion of what I want. So I may show interest in just one shirt or a holiday for 2 people and not 4.

* I ask all my questions and show that it is just what I want (so the sales person knows he almost has sale) but …

* I indicate that I’m not happy with the price. For example I may have seen something similar cheaper elsewhere. Or that I am prepared to go shopping around (all sales people know, if the customer walks out they usually will not come back). Or that I have the money (you’ll see why next) but had not planned on spending that much.

* I let the sales person try to ‘sell me the IDEA’ that it is OK to buy the product. Sometimes, they offer some free product (e.g. a pair of socks or tickets for a gallery or some show while on holiday). Then I ‘ask’ for the discount but make it clear that I will definitely buy if they give me the discount. This is how I ‘ask’ …

* “Look I’ll definitely take it at $X”. The sales person then says “… so you want $Y off the price?!”. They may tell you they don’t normally offer a discount outside of the sales season, etc. If they are very confident about not offering discounts, I then say “ok, I’ll take 2 shirts … this one and … that one, only if you give me them at $Z for both …”.

* At this stage the sales person may even say he hasn’t the authority to offer discounts. No problem, I ask them to speak to their boss. I have done this lots of times and get this: 90% of the time the boss agrees to the discount. Of the remaining 10% at least half the time, the boss offers me a counter discount which is a not as good as what I asked for but still pretty good.

Do you want to know the kind of discounts I’ve had? Well, on two shirts worth $62 I got $22 off. That is around 35%! On a travel package worth around $4,300, I got about $600 off but wait for it … I also got an upgrade from a deluxe room to a business suite in the same 5 star hotel. That suite was worth $800 per night and the deluxe room was worth $250 per night!

I had to explain the above details at length but all that I did was to display that I ‘WILL’ buy with a discount. They knew all they had to do was just one thing: give me a discount, so they did it. I made it, as they say, “a no brainer” for them.

In short just “ask” but (a) be realistic (let them make a little profit, don’t ask for 80% off) and (b) have a little flexibility as a backup plan (be ready to tell them that you’ll buy more, e.g. 2 shirts or a holiday for 4. Hey, even the sales people like to think they have got a concession form you … it is not a one-way street).

This technique works for almost everything but also works extremely well for travel bargains too. So lets get back to more tips specific to travel deals then.

Travel bargains, discounts and deals are all around you because we all travel regularly and repeatedly for holidays as well as for business and of course the travel industry competes for our dollars. Nevertheless, some research and being alert to travel deals can mean more substantial savings. Here’s how to spot and get the best travel deals:

* Booking as early as possible usually entitles you to some travel discount.

* If you’re buying more than one ticket, a further travel discount is possible.

* Be flexible. Sometimes weekend flights can be cheaper than weekdays (less business travellers).

* Flights departing later at night can be cheaper.

* Depending on your timetable, consider indirect flights, which take longer, but are probably cheaper, as opposed to direct flights.

* Travelling other than peak periods, such as schools holidays and public holidays will probably be heaper.

* More often than not, holiday packages are cheaper than buying the components separately.

* Compare prices online, by phone, or visit individual travel agents in the high street.

* As all airlines overbook, consider taking a later flight which usually comes with sweeteners from the airline in the form of further travel discounts, and travel vouchers.

* It may also be possible to travel on ‘stand by’, but it means that you’ll be called with very little notice

* If you’re lucky, it may be possible to travel as a ‘courier’. Some firms will pay, or subsidise your airfare in return for carrying important packages and letters.

* Buy travel insurance that best suits your circumstances. In case of emergencies it’ll save you lots of money.

The more time and effort you devote, the better travel deals you’ll bag. In many instances the saving could be quite substantial. So much so that you may be able to add on extra days stay. Happy travel deals.