Acquisition

Online Travel Corporation PLC
19 August 2002



     ONLINE TRAVEL CORPORATION PLC ANNOUNCES NEW ACQUISITION AND NEW CONTRACTS


Online Travel Corporation plc ('OTC'), the travel technology and distribution
group, announces that it has acquired the Australian travel agency, Sydney
Travel Centre Pty Limited ('STC'). Consideration for the acquisition is
A$725,000 (£257,092), of which A$600,000 (£212,766) is payable in cash and
A$125,000 (£44,326) in new ordinary shares in OTC, representing 177,305 shares
at 25 pence per share.


On a pro-forma basis in the year to 30 June 2002, STC generated gross sales of
A$12.5 million (£4.43 million), a gross profit margin of A$1.2 million (£0.43
million) and an operating profit before tax and exceptional items of A$110,000
(£39,007). At completion STC will have a minimum of A$350,000 (£124,114) in cash
assets.


In the last month, OTC has grown to the third most visited travel agency site in
Australia. This growth is as a result of the launch of new travel sites for
major portals and media groups including AOL, Altavista, Webwombat and Optus.
The acquisition is designed to build on this recent success.


In addition the acquisition is expected to bring the following benefits:


•         Increased regional product and content on OTC websites.

•         Established call centre support and online order fulfillment.

•         Travel regulatory licenses for Australia.

•         Established and growing customer base with A$12.5 million sales in the
          last year.

•         Elimination of cost duplication with existing OTC Australian business.

•         A solid platform for further expansion in the Asia Pacific region.


Ed Hanrahan, Managing Director of OTC, Asia Pacific comments 'OTC has quickly
been established as a major player in the Australian e-travel market, and
acquiring STC will give us excellent products and support services and a strong
platform on which to build our leisure and business travel services in this
region.'


Mark Jones, CEO of OTC, comments: 'Our recent success with major portals in
Australia demonstrates our ability to build market share overseas with a
relatively small amount of investment. STC will enable us to provide an even
wider range of regional products and excellent fulfillment for our anticipated
growth, as well as an established customer base.'


OTC has also secured several new contracts in the UK over the last month
including


•         A subscription based travel service for British Telecom customers.

•         A new travel service for British Telecom business customers via OTC
          business division, Travelstore.com.

•         An exclusive online travel service for PADI (Professional Association
          of Diving Instructors), the world's largest diving organization, with 
          some 946,000 certified divers per annum.

Application has been made for the 177,305 new ordinary shares to be admitted to
trading on the Alternative Investment Market of the London Stock Exchange, and
dealings are expected to commence on 23 August 2002.


The exchange rate used in this announcement is £1=A$2.82, which was derived from
the Financial Times on 16 August 2002, the last practicable date prior to the
announcement.


For further information contact:


Online Travel Corporation Plc
Mark Jones, CEO                 Tel: [phone]
                                

Noble & Company Limited
Alasdair Robinson               Tel: [phone]
                                

Durlacher Limited
Nick Martin                     Tel: [phone]
                                      

Cardew & Co
Richard Fallowfield             Tel: [phone]
                                

About Online Travel Corporation, plc

OTC is a travel technology and distribution business, providing a comprehensive
range of technological solutions, travel products and ancillary travel services
to ISP's, Media and Affinity Groups and Corporate Organisations.  It provides
bespoke technology solutions linked to its wide product range to produce a
one-stop travel service through the Internet, supported by telephone call
centres for leisure and corporate clients to fulfil their travel needs.  OTC
provides a comprehensive range of travel products and ancillary travel services
is both a travel agent and tour operator. OTC strategy focuses on low-cost
routes to market with lower customer acquisition costs compared to that of a
mass-market consumer brand and is focused on selected business areas.  OTC has
launched over 100 travel sites in the last 18 months and via these partner sites
has access to a potential customer base to over 16 million online users.  OTC is
quoted on the Alternative Investment Market of the London Stock Exchange.
Additional information is available at www.onlinetravel.com

                      This information is provided by RNS
            The company news service from the London Stock Exchange