Travelport, the business services provider to the global travel industry, operating both the Galileo and Worldspan global distribution systems (GDS), today announces details of its new, one stop leisure portal for travel agents. Known as Travelport Leisure, the new travel trade portal is an upgraded version of its former Galileo Leisure portal which was first launched in 2005. The GDS provider took the decision to invest further in its Galileo Leisure offering in response to the ongoing growth potential of global leisure travel spend which is expected to reach around $700bn by 2014*.
The Travelport Leisure portal, which now includes extensive new hotel, hostel, B&B and car options as well as new functionality to add localized content at a country level, will be rolled out globally from June 2010. Like its predecessor, it will continue to be free of charge to use for all travel agents, even if they do not subscribe to a Travelport GDS.
Jane Lewis, Vice President, Land and Sea, for Travelport, explained: “The new and improved Travelport Leisure portal not only has a great new look, but also dramatically increases agents’ earning potential through the availability of new, easily bookable leisure content. Our partners in the travel trade told us they liked using Galileo Leisure but wanted an even greater choice of content and we have responded to their feedback. This new leisure portal very much complements Travelport’s core GDS platforms and we are confident it will attract even more users from the travel trade.”
Incorporating all of Galileo Leisure’s existing hotel content, which includes GTA’s 35,000 hotels, Travelport Leisure will also give agents access to new content from a range of well-known, market leading leisure suppliers.
These include:
HotelClub by Orbitz – 57,000 hotels in 5,600 cities worldwide. A leading brand of the U.S.-based online travel company Orbitz Worldwide (NYSE: OWW), HotelClub offers discount rates and deals, and instant confirmation for travellers in the United States, Asia Pacific and throughout Europe.
Kuoni Connect – 15,000 hotels in more than 1,800 destinations with a unique portfolio of boutique/design, international brands and beach hotels. Coming soon to Travelport Leisure will be transfers, sightseeing, destination packages, concierge services and escorted tours.
Hostelworld.com – Leader in the budget bed sector with over 24,000 properties in 186 countries and over 7,000 destinations. Properties include hostels, B&Bs, apartments, guesthouses, riads, campsites and budget hotels.
Cars by TUI – Part of TUI Travel PLC, Cars by TUI is a major car rental aggregator and with over 130 car rental partners worldwide. It offers best available rates for international suppliers such as Hertz, Avis, Europcar, and Sixt in addition to many local partners.
In addition, Travelport Leisure will continue to offer useful features provided by GTA such as interactive city maps and useful travel information such as weather reports, hotel reviews, news, visa requirements and destination guides to aid agents during the sales process.
“We are seeing some very encouraging signs that leisure travel spend has really picked up again and much of this spend will be on non-air related products such as hotels and car hire. We believe this upgraded leisure booking tool is a logical way to work with the travel trade to take advantage of this significant opportunity and make booking leisure content and earning revenues on it even easier,” added Lewis.
Travelport Leisure can be accessed, free of charge, via the URL: www.travelportleisure.com
