Cheapflights to offer free ads service in newsletter

Cheapflights.co.uk is to offer free advertising to travel companies in its weekly e-mail newsletter.

The newsletter has about 1.5 million opt-in subscribers and the company claims that travel firms gained sales of &£1bn last year as a result of referrals from its site.

The company says it will consider deals from any reputable travel firm. Suitable ones will be included free, and advertisers will not be charged for any leads referred to them from the newsletter.

It hopes the move will lead to a wider range of deals, in turn attracting more consumers to its newsletter and website. The company will continue to offer paid-for advertising.

Last week Cheapflights sold a number of its non-flight websites to Internet Business Group for over &£1m.