Travelport Signs Six New Test Partners in Asia Pacific

Travelport has signed agreements with six travel agencies in the Asia Pacific region to participate in the regional testing and development of its Travelport Universal Desktop.

The new contracts follow successful agency trials and positive feedback from global launch partner, Flight Centre and UK beta test customer Global Travel Management in the UK.

The new Travelport Universal Desktop test partners in the Asia Pacific region are: MP Travel and Orba Travel Brokers in Australia, Quotient Travel and Serangoon Air Travel in Singapore as well as SkyJet and Shalom in Hong Kong.

 All customers are expected to commence beta testing shortly.

Travelport Universal Desktop provides travel agents with an intuitive interface and access to multi-source content and pricing. It is designed to improve efficiencies and boost productivity, through its introduction of clever travel management tools and streamlined workflow processes.

?Travelport Universal Desktop delivers our travel partners with a revolutionary new way to search and book travel. It reflects our ongoing investment in innovative technology and builds on our position as Asia-Pacific?s leading GDS,? said Simon Nowroz, President and Managing Director, Asia-Pacific, Travelport. ?We are committed to ensuring Travelport meets customer needs in today?s marketplace, but also identifies the opportunities of tomorrow.?

The desktop tool is currently being launched across the Flight Centre global network following a successful pilot program. UK travel management company, Global Travel Management has also just commenced accessing a live version following its own successful beta trial.

See other recent news regarding: Airlines, Airports, Awards, Flights, Codeshare, FFP, Inflight, Lounges, First Class, Business Class, MICE, GDS, Rewards, Miles, Hotels, Apartments, Promotions, Spas, Yoga, Retreat, New Hotels, Traffic, Visitor Arrivals, Cruises, Free Deals, Interviews, Videos, Travelport

View the original article here

Munich Airport Partners Beijing Int. Airport

The airports in Munich and Beijing are forging closer ties. At an official signing ceremony last week, the heads of the two air transportation hubs, Dr. Dong Zhiyi, the president and CEO of Capital Airports Holding Company, and Dr. Michael Kerkloh, the president and CEO of FMG, the Munich Airport operating company, finalized a new cooperation agreement.

 The objective of the partnership is a systematic knowledge transfer for employees and managers of the two airports. Among the arrangements for achieving this goal, the contract provides for a management exchange program, in which visiting managers will gain detailed insights into the operations and processes of the partner airport.

Beijing International Airport is China?s biggest airport, and handles nearly 80 million passengers per year. When the new Beijing Daxing International Airport opens in the Chinese capital in 2015, it will handle about 370,000 passengers per day, making it the world?s busiest aviation hub. Beijing joins Denver, Nagoya, Bangkok and Singapore as Munich?s fifth sister airport.

Passenger traffic at Munich Airport increased 10% in the first three quarters of 2011. From January through the end of September 2011, more travelers used Munich Airport than ever before in the first three quarters of a calendar year. The approximately 28.6 million arriving and departing passengers represented a 10% increase as compared with the same period a year earlier. Moreover, the last day of this traffic period ? 30 September 2011 ? produced yet another all-time high of just under 140,000 passengers, some 10,000 more than the record set last year. The number of aircraft movements increased by more than 6% in the first three quarters to 310,730.

See other recent news regarding: Airlines, Airports, Awards, Flights, Codeshare, FFP, Inflight, Lounges, First Class, Business Class, MICE, GDS, Rewards, Miles, Hotels, Apartments, Promotions, Spas, Yoga, Retreat, New Hotels, Traffic, Visitor Arrivals, Cruises, Free Deals, Interviews, Videos, Munich, Beijing, Munich Airport

View the original article here

Tourism Australia Partners Jetstar

Tourism Australia has signed a $10 million marketing deal with Jetstar aimed at boosting Japanese inbound tourism and further expanding brand Australia?s presence in Asia Pacific.

The three year agreement runs to mid 2014 and will see Tourism Australia and Jetstar each contribute at least $1.6 million per year on a range of joint marketing, digital and social media activities.

The partners will work cooperatively to leverage more affordable air travel and Australia?s unique attractions to increase arrivals from Japan, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and New Zealand.

The first tranche of $2 million will be directed to rejuvenating the Japanese market, which has slipped from Australia?s second to fifth largest source market for international tourists over the past ten years.

"It unlocks real value by leveraging the combined skills, expertise and resources which both our organizations have long demonstrated in Asia. We aim to use our well-established and successful There?s nothing like Australia campaign messaging alongside Jetstar.com to drive bookings and inbound travel," said Managing Director, Andrew McEvoy. "Like Tourism Australia, Jetstar has ambitious expansion plans for wider Asia and sees sustained and large growth opportunities, led by the greater China market, and numerable South East and North Asian markets including Japan, which will clearly remain in the top half dozen of Australia's tourism export markets. There's strong alignment and a real natural fit."

Japan is currently Australia?s fifth largest source market for international tourists, spending approximately $1.5 billion in 2010. There were 350,200 visitor arrivals from Japan for the twelve months ending August 2011, a drop of 11%. Tourism Australia believes his market has the potential to grow to between A$2.7 billion and A$3.3 billion in total expenditure by 2020.

See other recent news regarding: Airlines, Airports, Awards, Flights, Codeshare, FFP, Inflight, Lounges, First Class, Business Class, MICE, GDS, Rewards, Miles, Hotels, Apartments, Promotions, Spas, Yoga, Retreat, New Hotels, Traffic, Visitor Arrivals, Cruises, Free Deals, Interviews, Videos, Tourism Australia, Australia, Jetstar, Japan

View the original article here