AsiaOne announced today the launch of its travel site, in partnership with Chan Brothers Travel. The comprehensive travel site provides a range of travel services and information. Net savvy consumers can look forward to booking their travel online for tour packages, accommodation, air tickets, car rentals or just getting information on tour destinations. The travel site aims to be a comprehensive one-stop shop for people looking for travel related services. The AsiaOne travel site offers many packages for free and easy travelers, airfare bookings, corporate travel, tour packages, hotel bookings, car rentals and many others. It also gives consumers the added convenience of booking travel insurance online. Useful tools within the site include a currency converter, weather, information and even a search tool to search for tour packages within their budget.
Mr Low Huan Ping, CEO of AsiaOne said, ” We are delighted to be working with Chan Brothers Travel on the travel site. They have the infrastructure and commitment to ensure the success of e-commerce for travel transactions. We are totally committed to developing this portal together so that we can bring increased convenience, services and e-commerce to our Internet users. As Singaporeans love to travel, I am confident that this will be a very useful and engaging site.”
Echoing the sentiments is Mr Cheong Tack Hoong, Chief Executive of Chan Brothers; “We are excited to be working with AsiaOne as they enjoy very high daily Internet traffic and are committed to developing a travel portal with the e-commerce capabilities that serve the needs of local and regional travelers. Chan Brothers Travel was recently awarded the “New Age Agent” by TravelAsia. We have more than $30 million sales through the Internet and more than 25,000 customers have enjoyed the savings and convenience of on-line bookings. As people find it more convenient to find information on the web, the trend of online travel booking will continue. We will continue to upgrade our services to make our offers more exciting to customers.”
The travel site is part of AsiaOne’s continuing efforts to expand its services to include more lifestyle offerings. The recently launched NewAsiaWoman website is one example of harnessing the power of the Internet to reach a specific target audience. As women become more affluent and well travelled, they will need a travel site to fulfil their travel and vacation needs. Advertisers can make use of this site to promote their travel related services.
AsiaOne plans to expand its travel portal in the next few months by inviting other complementary travel related industry players to be part of the portal. Said Mr Low, “Forrester Research estimates that online travel revenue will exceed US$29 billion in 2003, generating 12% of total travel revenue. We welcome all industry players like airlines, travel agents, travel insurance companies, hotels, resorts, and advertisers to partner with us. We believe that consumers will enjoy the one-stop shop that AsiaOne provides for their travel needs. We will turn this portal into a mega travel mall.”
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