Quickertix.com, the online travel tool offered by C Travel Ltd., has shown that local travel agencies can take on big travel websites like Expedia and Travelocity and thrive, says C Travel chief executive Carl Paiva.

Mr. Paiva said Quickertix has taken off beyond all expectations, beating out Expedia in more than 90 percent of test bookings.

He also said Quickertix.com, launched in July has grown substantially, and more than 90 percent of the clients using it have never dealt with C Travel before.

?We have known for the past three years there was a whole segment of the market who wanted to make a quick booking online and get the best fare, wherein they didn?t have to pay service fees through travel agents,? Mr. Paiva said.

He said many clients who want to travel to short destinations such as New York prefer to go online and do the bookings independently.

?When searching for the right booking tool, our requirements were to keep it simple, so it?s an easy way to book, localise it so they know the backend company is here to serve them and give them the best air fares.?

?We were shocked, to put it mildly, by the number of bookings that were coming in. In August we started a more aggressive advertising campaign and the bookings doubled.?

Mr. Paiva said in September C Travel did a little more ?guerrilla advertising? campaigning and completed a study comparing Quickertix.com to Expedia.com for 35 cities and Quickertix.com was found to be cheaper than than Expedia in 90 percent of the tests.

?We don?t charge a service fee in the way Expedia does,? Mr. Paiva said. ?Our feeling is that the consumer is making the booking, they have done most of the work, we produce the E-ticket and we print the immigration forms for our clients.

?If our agents see there is a cheaper airfare than a client has booked, our service department will send them a message saying to client we can save you an extra hundred dollars.?

Quickertix.com has also seen an increase in international bookings.

?We always realised that would take these service beyond Bermuda. Our next step is to offer this service to the Cayman Islands,? he said.