Langley, UK, 03.11.2009
eWaterways, the world’s first global aggregator of small ship cruises, has signed an agreement with Travelport, a leading provider of global distribution systems (GDS), to distribute its extensive niche cruise content to GDS users for the first time. The new content will be distributed through two separate Travelport point of sale leisure systems – initially the Galileo Leisure portal from November 2009 followed by the Travelport Cruise & Tour™ platform in the U.S. and Canada in 2010.
eWaterways offers over 1200 contracted vessels comprising river cruise ships, hotel barge trips, expedition voyages, coastal cruises and sailing and yacht journeys, which can either be chartered wholly in many cases or booked by cabin.
Jane Lewis, senior director, hospitality and car rental, Travelport GDS, said: “We are always looking for ways to bring valuable new content to our GDS customers to help them earn new revenues at a time of reduced commissions. Now our agency customers using the Galileo Leisure portal will have access to specialist cruise content as well as the extensive hotel content provided by both GTA and youtravel.com.”
Daniela Wagner, CEO for eWaterways, said: "We are delighted to have signed this agreement with Travelport which enables us to distribute our niche cruises more widely to the travel trade. We pay generous commission rates and present a real opportunity for travel agents to boost their revenues during such tough economic times. Furthermore, being the largest global online aggregator of specialist cruises we are able to offer fabulous vessels that have never been sold in the UK market place”
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Notes to Editors
About Travelport Cruise & Tour™
Travelport Cruise & Tour™ is a customized, web-based shopping and booking system based on the proven, industry leading technology of Revelex Inc. that is currently available to customers in the U.S. and Canada. It allows travel sellers to efficiently search and book cruise and land-based travel package options from leading cruise and tour operators and integrates the booking and financial details to the GDS and a choice of back-office systems.
About Galileo Leisure
Galileo Leisure is an online leisure booking tool, available to any Galileo travel agent who has internet access, and enables access to a wide range of leisure travel content from a single website.
Content Includes:
- 72,000 + Hotels
- 7,000 Car Rental locations (1,880 cities, 57 countries)
- 3,000 Apartments & Villas
- 3,500 Transfers
- 1,300 Tailor-made sightseeing tours
- 3,000 Tours & Excursions
- 300 + Travel Guides
Agents can easily access the portal by adding a button onto their desktop and bookings are automatically integrated into a Galileo Booking File.
For more information, go to: www.galileoleisure.com.
About Travelport
Travelport is one of the world's largest travel conglomerates offering broad based business services to companies operating in the global travel industry. Travelport is comprised of the global distribution system business that includes the Worldspan and Galileo brands; GTA, a leading global, multi-channel provider of hotel and ground services; IT Services and Software, which hosts mission critical applications and provides business and data analysis solutions for major airlines. With 2008 revenues of $2.5 billion, Travelport operates in 160 countries and has approximately 5,300 employees.
Travelport also owns approximately 48% of Orbitz Worldwide (NYSE: OWW), a leading global online travel company. Travelport is a private company owned by The Blackstone Group, One Equity Partners, Technology Crossover Ventures and Travelport management.
More information about Travelport is available at www.travelport.com.
About eWaterways
- We are experts in the small ship niche of cruising and offer journeys with the comfort of on-board accommodation and a scenic and more intimate alternative to ocean-going mega-ship cruise liners.
- eWaterways is an electronic distribution channel and reservation service for small ships, yachts and deluxe barges cruising along coastal waterways, rivers and canals all over the world.
- Small boat cruising is one of the last true niches left in the travel industry and there is a clear opportunity to captivate consumers by creating a state of the art booking site with comprehensive content. We aim to enable consumers to book in "real time" stand-alone cruises or complete cruise packages.
- eWaterways has a team of seasoned travel professionals who can help you reach fascinating destinations on coasts and inland and combine a voyage with visits to fascinating cities, villages, castles, vineyards and other attractions along the way
- eWaterways offers a wide range of vessels from small ships and luxury yachts, to river boats and hotel barges, equipped with between six and 150 cabins. The cruises can be reserved by individuals or chartered by groups.
- The itineraries we offer include major European rivers from the North Sea to the Black Sea, the dramatic fjords of Scandinavia, the scenic coast of Croatia, relaxing inland canal vacations, expedition cruises around the Galapagos Islands, the Amazon and even the polar regions, as well as luxury yachting in Fiji, the Bahamas or the Cayman Islands, for example.
- Our one-stop-shop services allow you to purchase just the cruise or combine your cruise with air transportation, ground transfers, hotel stays, and additional sightseeing options directly from this website.
- eWaterways provides a web-based platform for boat owners, cruise suppliers and travel agents to promote their services to the public and offer a memorable boating travel experience anywhere in the world. The site allows real-time booking and enables vessel owners to upload and manage capacity directly.
Media enquiries:
Kate Aldridge
Travelport Corporate Communications
+44 (0) 1753 288720
kate.aldridge@travelport.com