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Australian travellers can look forward to permanently lower air fares as a result of a radical new internet marketing program being introduced today.

Internet travel company Webjet Ltd says the strategy - built around new automated booking technology - will produce substantial fare reductions, with savings up to hundreds of dollars (example attached) for internet customers prepared to make their own bookings.

It is also expected to trigger a shakeout in the Australian travel market and deliver the long-awaited boom in e-travel which now offers a real price advantage with full service options.

Webjet will use the technology to offer customers a range of service options - right up to personalised VIP service - listing the base price of the fare and the service surcharge for each level clearly explained.

Webjet Managing Director, David Clarke, says the technology will make travel costs fully transparent for the first time in Australia, revealing to customers the real net cost of the fare from the airline and the surcharge they are paying. This puts real pressure on mainstream agents.

Clarke believes the strategy, backed by the new technology, will finally give
internet based travel its place in the sun and trigger a shake-out in the Australian travel market.

'Internet-based travel companies were written down across the board by the share market in the dot.com crash, even though in the case of Webjet we were delivering exponential sales growth month on month and meeting or exceeding prospectus forecasts.

'But the big breakthrough was always going to be a totally new sales/distribution strategy based on new technology which delivers us both a cost and sales price advantage. These sorts of approaches have had a profound impact on the US travel market where similar technology has already been introduced.

'Webjet is currently the only company in Australia offering this approach,' says Clarke.

'It provides Webjet with a position of market leadership and with a sustainable market advantage. We believe it will lead to a reassessment by the market of internet travel stocks.'

'Travel is the fastest growing area of internet sales in the US - the one area that was not trashed in the dot.com shakeout - because it is a perfect product for e-commerce,' he said.

'You do not need expensive warehousing, packing and mailing operations to deliver the product. Nor do you need to touch and see the product before you buy, as you do with fashion or household items.

'It can be ordered and delivered electronically. Airlines have been offering electronic ticketing for years; with the new technology it is now available directly to the consumer via the net.

You can choose flight times and destinations from home as easily - even more easily - than you can in a travel agent's office. And you can now compare the full range of prices from all airlines and book at what are effectively wholesale rates.'

Mr Clarke said Webjet had already been experiencing rapid booking growth. With the new cost and service options we expect growth rates to further accelerate,' he said.

To support today's launch Webjet has undertaken a major advertising push framed by their regular agency, White Advertising and Beyond. This will include press and magazine advertising, airline in-flight magazines and billboards on the main airport access roads in Melbourne and Sydney.

The campaign will highlight the choices and savings now available to Webjet's internet customers.

'Customers who want to do all the work themselves, selecting a flight from the airline schedules and booking it via the internet, will make the biggest savings, says David Clarke. They will also have 24-hour, seven-day access. 'Those who want more personal service will know exactly how much extra they are paying for it, he says and be able to compare that with prices from traditional agents. '

Mr Clarke said he believed Webjet's new strategy would speed the shakeout already occurring in Australia's travel industry.

'Essentially it allows consumers to book fares at prices formerly available only to bulk-buyers,' he said 'and in doing so underpins Webjet's long term strategy of delivering real commercial advantage to our customers and strong transaction profit to our shareholders,' Mr Clarke said.