OTC will expand through licensing

Wednesday, 20 Nov, 2002 0

OTC has continued its expansion into Asia Pacific by licensing its technology to Zuji, an online travel company based in the region.

Zuji is adopting OTC’s Build-Your-Own technology to allow its customers to build holidays by selecting flights, accommodation and other components. Zuji customers will also have access to most of OTC’s inventory.

The fulfilment of holidays will be handled by OTC’s Sydney office, which was created when the company bought Sydney Travel Centre in August. The Sydney office will also be seeking contracts with travel suppliers in the region to supplement Zuji’s content.

The technology will be rolled out in Australia in January, but the rest of Asia Pacific will follow shortly. Zuji pays a licensing fee up front to OTC, then pays a transaction fee per booking or splits the commissions on bookings.

OTC chief executive Mark Jones (pictured) told TravelMole: “Zuji will also continue to seek its own contracts. This is by no means an ownership change. Zuji will also continue to have flights provided by Travelocity”.

Mr Jones said he intends to license the Build-Your-Own technology to other travel providers around the world, and told TravelMole that he had other licensing agreements in the pipeline. OTC has also started licensing Envoy, a business travel solution that it took onboard following the acquisition of Travelstore.

Mr Jones told TravelMole that OTC has redeveloped Envoy and should soon announce licensing deals with groups of business travel agents and large corporations. He also said that OTC was looking to integrate no-frills carriers into Envoy, some of which could be onboard as early as next year.

OTC is anticipating that it will achieve a positive EBITDA for the first time, in the second half of this year.

Read our previous stories:
25-Sept-2002 OTC adds 60,000 hotels through acquisition
20-Aug-2002 OTC set for Asia Pacific expansion after Australian acquisition
08-Jul-2002 OTC reduces first half losses
05-Jul-2002 OTC takeover talks off – for now
04-Jul-2002 Lastminute to buy OTC?
11-Jun-2002 The TravelMole Interview: Mark Jones, Online Travel Corporation
10-Jun-2002 OTC snaps up Travelstore.com for £2.1million
15-May-2002 OTC offers tailor-made holidays online