Web 'aids holidaymakers search properties'

The internet makes it vastly easier for consumers to search out suitable holiday homes, an expert suggests.

Ross Elder, managing director of rental website Holiday Lettings, comments that the web has changed the way in which people look for holidays.

Consumers no longer go to travel agents, they browse the web, he continues, adding that this allows them to hunt out bargains in a different way and search the market more effectively.

Furthermore, it gives firms an advantage as it allows them to showcase their properties to a wider audience, Mr Elder notes.

"Now they're able to showcase that property and have an online brochure using the internet, which anyone can see all over the world," he adds.

Research conducted earlier this year by Holiday Lettings revealed 72 per cent of consumers prefer booking their accommodation separately, with the internet their favourite platform for doing so.

It revealed four in ten holidaymakers spends more than 11 hours online researching each separate vacation.