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Travel technology expert and leading leisure travel wholesaler bring next-generation web sales tools to Brazilian market for the first time
Traveltek Group Ltd has marked another milestone in its global expansion strategy, bringing its newly-enhanced online sales portal to thousands of travel agents in Brazil.
The Glasgow-headquartered travel technology specialist, in collaboration with Brazil’s leading leisure travel wholesaler, Trend Operadora, has introduced Traveltek’s award-winning sales platform to Trend’s vast database of travel agency partners.
It’s the first leisure travel portal of its kind in Brazil, further boosted by the debut of Traveltek’s ‘NX’ next-generation web sales tools, which are set to debut in the UK later this month.
The Trend project is the result of a R$4million (£1million) investment and two years of collaboration, with both companies visiting agencies across Brazil to gain feedback and to assess their sales requirements.
The result is the creation of the “most complete tool available to travel agents today”, according to Trend President Luis Paulo Luppa.
“We have worked tirelessly with Scotland-based Traveltek, named the ‘World’s Leading Dynamic Packaging Solutions Provider’ for three years running at the World Travel Awards, to create an efficient and innovative platform that I believe is the best on the market,” he said.
“Travel agents in Brazil have never seen a leisure platform with so much functionality and artificial intelligence built in, and with the system now in place, we expect to achieve our ambitious target to grow our leisure business by at least 30% this year, which would not be possible without Traveltek’s expertise.”
Through Trend’s Traveltek-powered portal, travel agents will be able to purchase domestic and international travel products and ancillaries including hotels, flights, car rental, attractions and events tickets, tours, travel insurance, and more.
Luppa said the system’s major strengths included agility, navigation, instant and sophisticated advanced search capabilities, multi-currency functionality and the ability to create complex itineraries that can be easily amended, with highly intelligent and intuitive automation built in.
Kenny Picken, President and CEO, Traveltek Group Ltd, said the two-year collaboration with Trend had seen both parties gain new market knowledge, resulting in a portal that further enhanced Traveltek’s world-leading technology and met the unique needs of the Brazilian travel trade.
“It has been an absolute pleasure to work with the Trend Operadora team and a tremendous learning curve for all,” he said.
“This launch sees Trend become our largest client in South America, giving a huge boost to our profile in the Latin American market, and marking another milestone in our global expansion strategy.”
Picken added: “The partnership with Trend firmly signals our intention to lead the tour operation systems sector in every market in which we operate, and we continue to pursue aggressive growth targets in 2017 and beyond with this goal in mind.”
In October last year, Traveltek secured a £5.3 million investment from private equity fund manager YFM, money it has ploughed into product development and establishing offices in new international markets.
Picken recently appointed Robert Chamberlin as Director of Global Cruise & Strategic Partnerships to spearhead this global expansion plan.
Chamberlin, who is also heading up the Glasgow-headquartered firm’s US office located in Miami, Florida, is charged with the task of developing the group’s growing cruise distribution business, as well as its partnerships with leading international travel companies.
