Acquisition

Online Travel Corporation PLC
8 June 2001

ONLINE TRAVEL CORPORATION ACQUIRES EMAP DIGITAL TRAVEL ASSETS



Online Travel Corporation plc, ('OTC') the Internet based travel technology
and distribution group, has acquired the assets of EMAP Digital Travel ('EDT')
for £2.8m.



The purchase includes all proprietary technology and content, and the trade of
some of the UK's leading e-travel businesses, including:


i.    Bargainholidays.com, an online retailer of charter based package
      holidays,
ii.   A2Btravel.com, a scheduled flight information and travel site,
iii.  1Ski.com and Boardit.com, specialist winter sports sites, and
iv.   Ferrybooker.com, a proprietary online ferry booking service.



In the financial year ending 31 March 2001, EDT generated gross sales of £
14.2m with gross profits of £2.5m.



EDT specialist sites, particularly the charter based package holiday content,
will complement the OTC market proposition to the fifty plus travel sites
currently operated by OTC. EDT sites will continue to operate as separate
brands, and these sites will be enhanced by OTC technology, product and
supporting infrastructure. All sites are expected to benefit from the
cross-sale of these complementary products.



The acquisition will create one of the largest e-travel groups in the UK, with
some 2m unique users and over 300,000 transacting customers.



Commenting on the acquisition, Mark Jones, CEO of OTC, said:



'This acquisition is an excellent fit for OTC. Our focus to date has been on
scheduled flight based bespoke travel, so the acquisition of the leading
online charter based package holiday business and specialist ski and ferry
sites will strengthen our overall market proposition in terms of content,
travel products and technology. We expect to benefit from the cross-sale of
these complementary products and yield more large customers in the telecom,
retail, media and financial services sectors'



Emap's decision to sell its online travel activities reflects the Group's
increasing focus, the requirement for online assets to complement its offline
products and the clear financial returns required from digital activities.



Commenting, Emap Digital's Chief Executive Paul Keenan said,



'We have previously stated that we are focusing our online activities towards
our strategically important off-line assets. We don't have a major presence in
the travel magazine market and believe that these online assets will be more
readily developed within a specialist online travel company.  Given the market
position of OTC, we believe it will be an excellent home for these on line
assets.'



The consideration values the assets acquired by OTC (including goodwill) at £
2.8m and is payable via a vendor placing of 9,200,000 new ordinary shares in
OTC of £0.25 per share plus £0.5m in loan notes payable in November 2002.  In
addition, a further 800,000 new ordinary shares at £0.25 per share are to be
allotted pursuant to a cash placing.  Application will be made for the new
ordinary shares to be admitted to the Alternative Investment Market of the
London Stock Exchange and dealings are expected to commence on Tuesday 19 June
2001.



For further information, please contact:


OTC
Mark Jones, Managing Director                     Tel [phone]

Robert Falkner, Finance Director

Buchannan Communications                          Tel [phone]

Nicola How/Isabel Petre

EMAP

Paul Keenan, Chief Executive, EMAP Digital        Tel [phone]

Gary Hughes, Group Finance Director, EMAP Plc     Tel [phone]

Financial Dynamics

Tim Spratt                                        Tel [phone]



8 June 2001



END