Slow decline of travel press advertising

Interesting meeting today with Celia Pronto, the new marketing director of student specialist STA Travel.

Not only is the company embracing the web with enormous gusto - both from a consumer-facing point of view and with its digital marketing - but it has withdrawn the majority of its print advertising from UK national press.

Open any travel supplement over the last ten years or so and an STA Travel classified ad would have screamed out offers for the latest Round-the-World trips and cheap flights to Bangkok.

Not any more. Pronto has pulled most of the ad campaigns from the inkies in favour of pay-per-click advertising on the usual suspects.

It might be expensive on certain keywords, she admits, but the ROI for press campaigns was negligible, or at least nigh on impossible to measure.

Pronto also says the reaction to the decision from the market has been decidedly mixed.

More on this subject in the December of Travolution

Kevin May, editor, Travolution