Following the exciting announcement of Hostelworld.com’s partnership with Travelport, where tens of thousands of travel agents worldwide will now be able to book Hostelworld.com properties on the Travelport portal, www.travelportleisure.com, Hostelworld.com has announced that interest in its budget accommodation content, has been significant in its first week of operation. Hundreds of agents have to date signed up to work with Hostelworld.com. The rapid uptake is testament to the quality and unique nature of Hostelworld.com’s range of over 24,000 independent budget accommodation properties product, inspiring independently minded travellers anywhere through the Travelport network.

To support the launch, Hostelworld.com has created an incentive for travel agents signing up on the new portal, to be entered into a draw to win a cash prize of $1,000 when they sign up before 31st July 2010.

Hostelworld.com offers travel agents a fantastic opportunity to tap into the lucrative budget travel market. Agents will have access to over budget properties in more than 180 countries, from hostels and B&B’s to campsites, apartments, riads and budget hotels at over 7,000 destinations. They also have the added benefit of no booking fees, real-time availability, instant booking confirmation and unique property content.

Travelport Leisure is a new one stop leisure portal for travel agents, created in response to feedback from the travel trade. An upgraded version of its former Galileo Leisure portal, the system now includes extensive new hostel, B&B, hotel and car options as well as new functionality to add localised content at a country level. The system will be free of charge to use for all travel agents, even if they do not subscribe to a Travelport GDS.

Yvonne Finlay, Group Partnerships Manager with Hostelworld.com commented “Travel agents are recognising that more and more people are seeing the value in budget accommodation, getting quality at affordable prices in the best locations, so more money can be spent experiencing their destination. We are very excited about our partnership with Travelport opening a new direct distribution channel for Hostelworld.com to over tens of thousands of travel agents worldwide. As a unique incentive to celebrate this strategic partnership every agent that signs up to Hostelworld.com on Travelport Leisure will be in with a chance to win $1,000!’’