iknow-uk to double turnover as Brits holiday at home

A LANCASHIRE accommodation website is on course to almost double turnover as more Brits choose to holiday at home.

iknow-uk, which provides a platform for hotels, guest houses, B&Bs and holiday cottages to attract tourists, was founded by Marcus Simmons.

He launched his first site, iknow-yorkshire in 2003, since then he has rolled out 12 more regional websites which cover the UK’s most popular tourist regions and are visited by almost one million users a month.

Now the group, which employs 43 people, has beaten off stiff competition to win the growth strategy of the year category at the regional heats of the National Business Awards.

In the 12 months to August 31 2009, Leyland-based iknow-uk is set to turnover £1.5m and the target for next year is £2.6m. Marcus puts the group’s success down to the easy-to-use websites and effective search engine optimisation (SEO).

Marcus said: “This award recognises the solid foundations we’ve laid down to ensure continued success and growth for iknow-uk.

“We now attract more than 10 million visitors to our sites each year and are hopeful that figure will have grown to 20 million by 2011.

“But we are most proud of the fact that an unprecedented 90% of our customers continue to advertise on the sites year on year – which is a superb reflection of our customer service record and the conversion of web visits to bookings.”

Marcus added: “Holidaying in the UK is more popular than ever so there is a great opportunity this summer for the UK’s accommodation providers, with most holiday makers preferring to book online.

“We are growing the number of properties listed on our sites all of the time and plan to have the whole of the UK covered by the end of next year.”

Category winners at the three regional National Business Award ceremonies go through to the final in London on November 10.