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By Dominic Maher, 21 October 1999 00:25

NEWS Travel companies moving onto the Web will face a complex and expensive ride, according to Bill Pickering, head of interactive travel at Thomas Cook. Speaking in London this week, Pickering explained that integrating old systems with the new will be costly, and will eat into the cash a company will save by moving to an ecommerce strategy. Pickering also claimed a Web-based travel industry will not kill off established players - a belief backed up by Dave Howard, head of IT at Thomas Cook Interactive. Existing companies have well esatblished relationships with airlines and hotels that start-ups have not, Howard said. "It's not just about building technology, but relationships as well." However, Howard fired a warning to organisations that are not looking to form a relationship with Web-based companies. "If they are overly relaxed or confident about their position, they will not face a good future," he said. Peter Lines, VP for Europe at research house Killen and Associates, said that companies which don't get involved in the new sales media, they'll get left behind. "Thomas Cook has to back both sources but its main challenge is to manage both outlets," he said.