Sabre Travel Network equips eight French colleges with its GDS

28 November 2003 Sabre Travel Network equips eight French colleges with its GDS * Diploma in travel booking and sales now examines students using their GDS of choice* Sabre Travel Network today announced it has supplied eight French colleges with access to the Sabre system, following a change in examination rules that allows students to use the global distribution system (GDS) of their choice. Students qualifying for the ‘BTS Ventes et Productions Touristiques’ diploma can now choose which GDS to use in the ‘sales assisted by travel technology’ exam. This tests students’ ability to research and book travel with the help of technology. Sabre Travel Network has extended an open invitation to equip any French college teaching travel with its system. “We believe this development reflects the reality of the French travel landscape,” said Floyd Widener, Sabre Travel Network’s vice president of e-commerce and business development for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. “The travel industry in France is no longer dominated by a single GDS, so this is a good move for students who want wider choice, and for potential employers who need to recruit travel consultants trained in the system used by the agency.” The objective of the BTS Ventes et Productions Touristiques diploma is to give students a basic understanding of the travel sales process. Once this has been achieved students specialise as booking agents, travel advisors, travel managers, travel negotiators and buyers and travel agency managers. About Sabre Travel Network Sabre Travel Network, a Sabre Holdings company, provides access to the world’s leading global distribution system (GDS) and products and services enabling agents at more than 56,000 agency locations worldwide to be travel experts. Originally developed in 1960, the Sabre GDS was the first system to connect the buyers and sellers of travel. Today the system includes more than 400 airlines, approximately 60,000 hotels, 53 car hire companies, nine cruise lines, 36 railways and 232 tour operators. Sabre Holdings Corporation (NYSE: TSG) is a world leader in travel commerce, retailing travel products and providing distribution and technology solutions for the travel industry. More information about Sabre Holdings is available at http://www.sabre-holdings.com ###