03 June 2009

Travelport to distribute TUI car rental content

TUI has signed a deal with the GDS Travelport to distribute its car content to agents using Galileo and indicated further tie-ups between the two are in the pipeline.

The content will be available later in the summer through a direct connect to TUI’s car hire platform and will give access to car rental in around 24,000 locations and over 50,000 broker locations.

The deal will mean agents using Galileo get access to local car hire not previously bookable on their system such as Auto Jardim in Portgual, Avia in the Canary Islands and Nizza Cars in Andalucia.

Travelport senior director, hospitality and car rental, EMEA and Asia Pacific Jane Lewis said: "We are always looking for relevant new content to offer our agency customers so that they can offer even better customer service and increase their revenue streams at a time of reduced commissions. The new car hire content provided through this agreement with TUI Travel really complements our current content offering."

TUI Travel's head of product platforms and strategic buying Andreas Nau said: "Our loyal local car hire suppliers now have the possibility to approach new customer segments otherwise out of their reach. We will also benefit from distribution to both leisure and corporate travel agents as well as online travel distributors."

The agreement will extend to users of the Worldspan platform over the coming months.

By Dinah Hatch