Aldi introduces a new holiday website

Aldi has started offering beach holidays and city breaks via a new website. Alditravel.co.uk will have new deals every two weeks, and promises that all of them with be 3-, 4- or 5-star standard.

Paul Foley, managing director of Aldi UK, said 2009 was the perfect time to launch discount vacations.

"My belief is that people still want a holiday but will be more savvy and more likely to do research," he said. "I am more than confident. I think it couldn't be more perfect timing for us to do this. Everybody is considering what they spend on what and are right up for new ideas and probably Aldi in the UK is the most famous as it has ever been for value."

Foley refused to say how many holidays Aldi hoped to sell in the coming months. But he reportedly said he hopes one million Britons will travel with the company every year within five years.

According to FT.com, the model for selling cheap holidays is similar to how Aldi sells food. The Germany-based chain offers only a limited range of holiday deals but hopes to sell high volumes of them to shoppers. This means it can negotiate cut-rate prices with operators, who will give Aldi better deals if it delivers them a strong flow of business.

Foley said: "I am expecting to be a big player in the four-star holiday business. The principle is that if you got hold of a Thomson brochure and you picked the 12 best holidays, we would do them cheaper. You are staying in the same hotels and travelling on the same airlines. This is very new idea, we will offer a discount store approach to the holiday business. I am trying to do with holidays what we have done with food supermarkets. The big difference is that I have cut the range of holidays available at any one time down to an absolute minimum. I have picked the very best deals in three sectors, the beach holiday, the ski holiday and city break. If you want to stay in a famous hotel and travel with a recognised airline, I reckon we will be the best price."

He added: "I reckon I am 50 percent cheaper than the recognised large operators."

Aldi is already the second biggest travel agent in Austria and also sells holidays in Switzerland and Germany.

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