Sabre Holdings Corporation (NYSE: TSG), the global leader in information technology services for travel and transportation industries, today announced a new feature available to Sabre connected travel agents to help travelers more easily plan an entire trip. Travel agents now have a better way to fulfill travelers’ specialty booking requests—beyond air, car, and hotel—with quick and effective capabilities to find and book local attractions and tours through the Sabre computer reservations system.

“In the past, travel agents spent considerable time searching a myriad of Web sites, travel books and periodicals to locate information their clients would need to plan the perfect trip,” said Scott Alvis, senior vice president associate marketing and sales for Sabre. “Leisure travelers can now easily learn about those out-of-the-ordinary activities at their destinations and book reservations in advance. Business travelers will soon be able to take care of client entertainment up front, such as golf tee times or theater tickets—all through their travel agent.”

With specialty booking capability through travel agents, travelers have an increased opportunity to pre-pay more components of their trip and guarantee certain activities at their destination. For example, a traveler going to Paris will no longer need to stand in line at the Versailles to buy a ticket because arrangements may now be made prior to departure. Or, someone going to Australia may now reserve a spot in advance for the often sold-out “Sydney Harbor Bridge Climb” through his or her travel agent.

Pam Hartman Rosner, a Sabre connected leisure travel agent of Danvers, Massachusetts-based Garber Travel made the first AgentExplorer specialty booking—a Sydney Harbour Cruise for two clients who were going to Australia for the millennium.

“We get requests from our clients to book specialty products all the time,” said Rosner. “Oftentimes we must go through a time-consuming process of researching information in order to make the booking, or we simply can’t find it. I like the fact that I can now provide a complete trip itinerary for my clients and I know they will enjoy this new capability too.”

In addition to the new specialty booking content, AgentExplorer allows Sabre connected travel agents to also access destination information; maps and driving directions; weather updates; travel supplier information, including pictures of hotel properties, rental car companies and cruise lines; shipment and tracking tools that verify and track ticket shipments; an international protocol database and cultural data; and discounts.

Initially, AgentExplorer specialty booking content is centered around North Americans traveling internationally to Europe, Australia and New Zealand. Future content will include Caribbean and North American services, adventure travel, theme parks, theater tickets, golf outings and event tickets. A directory of travel consultants using the Sabre system may be found at www.sabre.com.

Sabre is the global leader in applying information technology to meet the needs of the travel and transportation industries with advanced and innovative technology skills to deliver progressive solutions. Headquartered in Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas, the company has more than 10,000 employees worldwide who span 45 countries. Sabre reported 1999 revenues of $2.4 billion, up 5.6 percent from 1998. Net earnings excluding special items were $264 million, up 15.2 percent from the prior year. More information on Sabre is available on the World Wide Web at http://www.sabre.com. Sabre and the Sabre logo are registered trademarks of an affiliate of Sabre Inc.

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