14/10/2009
Leading the online travel revolution is New Zealand’s own Tourism Exchange, the real-time, central marketplace for New Zealand tourism suppliers and distributors. The group today announces the securing of a wide range of distributors to participate within the scheme.
“Because it is free for distributors to participate, the Tourism Exchange is seen as a simple way to contract and transact with a distributor’s non-core NZ tourism suppliers,” says Chris Hunter, Tourism Exchange CEO.
“Tourism Exchange offers distributors a range of integration options depending on whether the distribution channel is online or via traditional agents. The service enables distributors to quickly and simply contract with New Zealand tourism suppliers, and earn a commission on tourism providers that they would not normally have relationships with.”
For traditional agents, Tourism Exchange has a simple booking centre for distributors to search for tourism providers, book in real time and receive instant confirmation. Agents can search, book and instantly confirm hotels, motels, B & B’s, lodges, attractions and tours in townships off the beaten track. And all the bookings they make via the Tourism Exchange are commissionable.
Agency chains that have signed up to distribute via Tourism Exchange include Atlantic Pacific American Express (APX), Air New Zealand Holidays Stores and Business Direct, Orbit Travel (Auckland) and a selection of the Travelsmart retail stores.
For online distributors, Tourism Exchange can provide simple white label search and availability pages, ‘book now’ buttons and web services for customised booking engine integrations. Air New Zealand was the initial pilot distributor, through its New Zealand website, and results have been encouraging. Tourism Exchange has also since also signed up several other online tourism retailers.
Tourism Exchange New Zealand, a joint venture between V3 (Vcubed Pty Ltd) and Air New Zealand, will support the Tourism Industry looking for new ways to expand their reach across international and domestic markets.
