Travel Republic Press Release

TravelRepublic.co.uk is the brainchild of three university friends and was launched on the web in 2003. Just four years later, the website has appeared for the first time in the IMRG-Hitwise Hot Shops List which ranks the UK's top 50 most popular internet retailers, across all sectors.

The Hot Shops List is a who's who of the heavyweight players in internet retailing in the UK. Travel Republic is number 40 on the list, just one place behind Apple iTunes and ahead of long-established brands such as Woolworths, Boots, IKEA and Monarch Airlines. In the online travel agency sector within which it operates the TravelRepublic.co.uk website is now more popular than the likes of Opodo and ebookers.com. Only Expedia.co.uk and lastminute.com rank higher.

Hitwise's Director of Research, Robin Goad, commented "The growth of travel sites is primarily a seasonal adjustment, but a 50% year on year increase in traffic helped TravelRepublic.co.uk enter the top 50 for the first time."

Paul Furner, Managing Director of TravelRepublic.co.uk, commented "We are absolutely delighted to feature in the prestigious Hot Shops List. The growth of the business since it was launched on the web just four years ago has been incredible, perhaps all the more so since this has been achieved without external investment. We are currently working on a number of new developments which should substantially increase traffic to the site over the next few months."

About Travel Republic

• Since its launch in 2003, Travel Republic's sales have increased from £2.8 million to an impressive £108 million, with the business on track for over £200 million in the current financial year.
• Travel Republic caters for a broad range of customers including families, couples and groups – mainly taking a hard earned break in the sun. The TravelRepublic.co.uk website offers charter, low-cost and scheduled airlines, powerful rate shopping technology for hotel rooms and apartments, plus hotel reviews, and resort guides, written by its customers.
• The three directors/shareholders of the company met on an Applied Computing degree course at the University of East Anglia in 1989.

About the Hot Shops List

• The IMRG-Hitwise Hot Shops List was published on 30 August 2007. The list ranks by popularity, as indicated by visits, the top 50 UK e-retailers selling goods and services within the IMRG Index Classification in July 2007. The list excludes eBay and price comparison / aggregator websites such as Kelkoo and Froogle. The full press release can be obtained from the Press Releases section of the IMRG website www.imrg.org
• IMRG (Interactive Media in Retail Group), founded in 1990, is the industry body serving e-retail – www.imrg.org
• Hitwise, established in 1997, is the world's leading online competitive intelligence service – www.hitwise.co.uk

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