The Hertz Corporation has appointed Discover the World Marketing as its new general sales agent in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain to grow outbound car rentals from the two Gulf countries to more than 8,800 Hertz locations in 150 countries.

Michel Taride, group president, Hertz International commented: “Hertz and Discover the World Marketing have enjoyed a long-standing relationship that has existed for more than 20 years, and we are delighted to extend this to two very important outbound car rental markets in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain.

“With the extensive Hertz product range perfectly matched to suit the needs of Saudi and Bahraini customers, combined with Discover the World’s proven track record of providing outstanding service to the global travel industry, this partnership will boost our long-term outbound strategy focusing on key growth channels.”

The new partnership will see the world’s leading general-use car rental brand and the global travel outsourcing company extend a long-standing relationship to Saudi Arabia and Bahrain – both of which present significant growth opportunities for Hertz outbound bookings.

Discover the World, which has existing GSA partnerships with Hertz in nine other countries, aims to grow Hertz outbound revenue from the two Kingdoms to key global destinations such as the USA and Europe by more than 50 per cent.

This is in addition to an already upward growth curve of international rentals from both Saudi and Bahrain that Hertz has so far enjoyed for the first half of 2013.

Hertz car rental transactions from Saudi Arabia to overseas destinations were up 21 per cent year-on-year for the first six months of 2013, while the top ten countries of choice were the USA, UAE, South Africa, Qatar, France, Germany, UK, Switzerland, Italy and Spain.

In Bahrain, outbound Hertz car rentals grew 13 per cent year-on-year from January to June 2013, with the UAE, United States, Qatar, Oman, UK, Germany, France, Kuwait, South Africa and Italy on the top-ten list of travel destinations for Hertz Bahraini customers.