French tour operator Boomerang selects Sabre as technology provider

French tour operator Boomerang is to launch a business-to-business Internet site developed using Sabre’s Meridia.Res booking engine. The company said today (27 March 2002)that it had selected Sabre as its preferred technology provider, replacing Amadeus and Galileo.

The site, www.boomerang-voyages.com, will allow any French travel agency, regardless of global distribution system (GDS) affiliation, to book and ticket Boomerang’s tour content.

Laurent Villa, deputy general manager of Boomerang, said his company had been impressed by the “vertical approach” that the GDS was able to offer.

“Sabre was able to provide a raft of integrated technology solutions for our entire strategic direction – from top to bottom”, he said.

“We will use Sabre’s tools and products to implement strategies to broaden our commercial customer base, increasing market share and revenue”.

Sabre will provide technological support to streamline the management of Boomerang’s call centre. It will also provide Boomerang with hardware and establish a telecommunications router in the tour operator’s headquarters, using a Cegetel IP technology line. This will give Boomerang access to leading technology, while lowering telecommunication costs.

Floyd Widener, Sabre’s general manager in France and the Benelux region, said the GDS’s suite of management solutions and marketing tools had added real value to its bid for the Boomerang business.

“Not only were we able to provide customised solutions to our customer’s requirements, but we were also able to demonstrate that we have thought about what their needs may be several years from now. Our strength is our ability to provide a global service, yet sufficiently customised to be able to contribute to our partners’ competitiveness”, Widener said.

Boomerang’s conversion follows two other significant French agency conversions to Sabre. The recent signing of Club Voyages and Jancarthier has increased Sabre’s French market share by nearly two percent.

Other plans involving Boomerang and Sabre are in the pipeline and will be announced in the coming weeks.

About Sabre
Sabre is the leading provider of technology, distribution and marketing services for the travel industry. Headquartered in Southlake, located in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, the company has approximately 5,500 employees in 45 countries. Sabre reported 2001 revenues of $2.1 billion. Sabre maintains an ownership interest of approximately 70 percent in Travelocity.com (NASDAQ: TVLY), the most popular travel site on the web; and it owns GetThere, the world’s leading provider of Web-based travel reservation systems for corporations and travel suppliers. Sabre is an S&P 500 company, traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: TSG). More information on Sabre is available on the World Wide Web at http://www.sabre.com.

Sabre has dedicated European offices in Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK. Sabre personnel, based in these locations, identify the needs of their local markets and develop new and existing tools to help local agencies and associates better serve their clients.

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