Hertz expects Internet to become main booking channel for car rental by 2008

In 2003, a majority of Hertz customers used the phone to make car rental bookings but this is set to change dramatically by 2008 with telephone bookings dropping by 20 per cent to account for 27 per cent of all transactions.

"Today's travellers are increasingly looking to tailor-make their itineraries, selecting for themselves the various components of their travel packages and the Internet is the perfect medium for this," said John Andrews, Director, Associations, GSA and Middle East.

"Last year, the number of Internet users increased by 11 per cent in Germany and nine and eight per cent in the UK and Italy respectively, while more and more people are going online in the countries of the Arabian Gulf as well," he said.

Andrews was addressing a gathering of senior representatives of Hertz franchisees from across the region who gathered in Dubai earlier in May to discuss the company's development plans for the region.

Hertz is represented in the Middle East by franchisees in Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, the UAE and Yemen, and by general sales agents in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.

"We have carried out studies to find out more about the preferences of online buyers and what seems to matter most to them is how easily available and quickly obtainable booking information is," he said. "Based on this, we have made our website simpler and very user friendly and it allows our customers to view our rates and book a vehicle within minutes."