TM Insider 205

The TravelMole Insider – Issue 205
ISSN 1474-2292
21 May 2002
http://www.travelmole.com

FEATURE: E-ticketing, sponsored by Sabre
An explanation of the background to e-ticketing, how it is used
and what opportunities it provides for agents, airlines and GDSs.
http://www.travelmole.com/item/81233

LATEST INDUSTRY NEWS
1. First Choice buys Exodus Travels
2. The TravelMole Interview: Keith Webber, Telewest
3. BA announces GBP200m full year losses
4. Orbitz to go public
5. Avis to go live on all GDSs
6. Confusion reigns over location of East Midlands Airport
7. Ryanair welcomes easyJet acquisition of Go
8. Trudy Redfern joins Worldchoice
9. Site of the Week: IgoUgo.com
10. Any Answers?

Tourism Distribution Channels:
Strategic Developments and Exploring the Future
Wednesday 12th June 2002, 15:00-20:00, University of Surrey,
Guildford. Distribution Channels of Tourism are becoming one of
the most critical factors for the competitiveness of tourism
organisations and destinations. This meeting will explore the
entire range of issues related with distribution and will seek
to identify suitable actions for the profiting in the future.
http://www.tourismsociety.org/media/DistributionTS12June02.pdf

LATEST PRESS POSTINGS
120 more travel agencies adopt RWA’s booking engines
Altavista UK helps Australian online accommodation provider
expand into Europe
Call-link installs its 2000th Magic Desktop portal
http://www.travelmole.com/news/press

EDITOR’S NOTE
In response to the article ‘OTC offers tailor-made holidays
online’, Mike Cogan has commented: “The Build Your Own process is
having to struggle with scheduled airlines and, I assume, hotels
via the GDS. Consequently, a search for Palma from Gatwick
produces a two leg flight via Madrid taking 7.5 hours with city
hotels on request. This doesn’t compete with the tour operator,
flying direct and offering more hotels, better prices and
bookable. Trying Florida was a similar story.

“Although there is a trend away from the packaged product, we
need better systems (and prices) before the bookings will grow.”
http://www.travelmole.com/item/80910

Have your say! If you would like to add your thoughts to this or
any other TravelMole article, click on the ‘Add a Comment’
button at the top of the article.

Best wishes

Richard Hammond
mailto:[email protected]

LATEST INDUSTRY NEWS
Breaking Stories: http://www.travelmole.com/news/index.html

1. First Choice buys Exodus Travels
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
First Choice Holidays has acquired the adventure holiday
company, Exodus Travels.
http://www.travelmole.com/item/81342

2. The TravelMole Interview: Keith Webber, Telewest
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
An “emotional attachment to viewdata” is clouding the real
issues about the benefits operators could gain by moving to XML
technology, according to Telewest Business head of travel Keith
Webber.
http://www.travelmole.com/item/81141

3. BA announces GBP200m full year losses
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
British Airways has revealed huge losses after a year
of “sacrifice and hardship”.
http://www.travelmole.com/item/81289

4. Orbitz to go public
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Orbitz, the online travel company owned by the five largest U.S.
airlines, has filed a registration statement with the U.S.
Securities and Exchange Commission for an initial public
offering.
http://www.travelmole.com/item/81349

5. Avis to go live on all GDSs
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Avis Europe is launching two new major functionality
improvements to drive up reservations through the Global
Distribution Systems.
http://www.travelmole.com/item/81293

6. Confusion reigns over location of East Midlands Airport
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
East Midlands Airport needs to have its name changed so that
people know where it is according to bmibaby md Tony Davis.
http://www.travelmole.com/item/81127

7. Ryanair welcomes easyJet acquisition of Go
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ryanair has welcomed the announcement by easyJet that it intends
to consolidate with Go and Deutsche BA.
http://www.travelmole.com/item/81042

8. Trudy Redfern joins Worldchoice
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Agent consortium Worldchoice has appointed Trudy Redfern to the
newly created position of head of marketing and business travel.
http://www.travelmole.com/item/81034

9. Site of the Week: IgoUgo.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
TravelMole’s reviewer, Adrian Mann, says: “This is an excellent
travel community site. It’s good to see that being an active
member will generate rewards in the form of Go Points, as this
will serve to keep the content fresh and make the community
active and engaging. A scale operates for points rewards, which
can be gained by submitting journals, photos, or referring
friends. The design is clear and consistent, and the whole site
is well-maintained and very active. Recommended.”
Read his full review:
http://www.travelmole.com/featured_sites.html

10. Any Answers?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Looking for Travel Agent partner
“We’re looking for agency partner for overseas Stag and Hen tours.”
http://www.travelmole.com/item/81285

Free weekends away
“There used to be a company here in the UK that sold weekend
break brochures that could be offered as a sales incentive,
whereby people got the accommodation for free and they paid for
their meals. Does anyone know know if there is a similar company
operating now?”
http://www.travelmole.com/item/81160

Travel websites hosting online community
“Is it worthwhile for a travel agent to set up an online
community in its website? To what degree does it help boosting
the agent’s sales, and how?”
http://www.travelmole.com/item/80537

TRAVEL DEALS FOR THE TRAVEL TRADE
TravelMole, in association with idDeals, brings you the
opportunity to get exclusive travel trade and airline staff
discounts at a range of properties at home and abroad:

Seychelles, The Plantation Club: luxurious beach resort, 25% off.
Dubai, Five star Hilton resort: GBP 35 per double incl tax.
Australia Gold Coast, Sea World Nara Resort: from GBP 61.
London, Radisson Edwardian: GBP 142.50 per double room.

Please note these discounts are only available to serving travel
agents or airline staff and their travelling companions. For
full details of these offers, go to:
http://www.travelmole.com/item/69822

CAREERZONE
This week on TravelMole there are 89 travel-related job
vacancies, all listed at:
http://www.travelmole.com/cgi-site/tmjobs.cgi
If you want to be the first to know about a new vacancy that
matches your own interests, just set up a Job Vacancy Alert and
we’ll send you an email as soon as the job is posted.
http://www.travelmole.com/cgi-site/tmjprofile.cgi?action=insert

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