August 2003

Beckham mania is a driving force for travel business

Beckham mania has doubled interest in business for a Leamington firm that specialises in trips to European football stadia.  Football fans have been bombarding Matchdays.com to sign up to watch the England captain at the Santiago Bernabeu with his new team mates Ronaldo, Luis Figo and Raul in the famous white shirts of Real Madrid.

Matchdays.com which was one of the first online travel agencies to offer such specialist trips, was launched by Travel Management Group three seasons ago.  The agency, which is now in its fourth season organises flights, hotels and match tickets.  It offers travel packages to watch football teams such as Real Madrid, Barcelona, AC Milan or Bayern Munich and, aside from the Beckham effect, has also witnessed renewed interest in Italian football as a result of AC Milan's Champions League victory last season.

Simon Booth, new media manager for TMG said: "We have had a lot of interest in Madrid as opposed to Barcelona.  It very much depends on the game but it is also because of David Beckham.  It is mainly for Madrid's big games against Barcelona, Valencia and Seville.  "But we are also getting fresh interest in Italian football as a result of AC Milan's success last season, especially with the Milan derby coming up on  October 5 which is one of Europe's biggest footballing events".

Matchdays.com claims major growth since it was launched, with more that two million British travellers looking for holidays involving watching or playing sport.  It maintains satisfaction levels from clients are in excess of 95 per cent and at least 30 per cent of bookings come from repeat business.  Mr Booth added: "The outlook is good particularly with the European Championships taking place in Portugal at the end of this season".

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