Tiscover
, Europe`s leading e-travel destination portal and management system company, today announced a 24% first-half increase in online visits to its stable of destination websites compared to 2001, defying the current travel industry downturn.

The company`s figures for the first six months of 2002 against the same period in 2001 show individual visits to its portals increased from 25m to 31m.

Tiscover also announced that page views during the six months to the end of June 2002 rose by 25% to 120m, compared to 96m for the same period in 2001.

According to Tiscover`s chief international business officer Karsten Kärcher, the results confirm the portal`s growing impact on the world`s travel & tourism industry: “Tiscover has revolutionised the travel and tourism market by developing our customers` marketplace at home and beyond their geographical boundaries.”

In a further development, Tiscover has released investor plans, accelerating the second phase of its privatisation strategy. This follows the announcement that its major shareholder - Tirol Werbung, the Tirol tourist board - is to relinquish its 91% share interest in the future.

This second phase in Tiscover`s privatisation strategy is intended to facilitate the company`s expansion across the remainder of Europe, including the creation of operations in several more countries.

Said Kärcher: “Tirol Werbung has been essential to our early success and we could not have asked for a better partner. But we all agree that Tiscover needs complete commercial freedom as it continues to enjoy rapid growth and accelerates its reach in Europe.”

                                                     

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