MEDIA RELEASE : AUGUST 2007

For Immediate Release

Attention business, tourism editors

7th August 2007

Leading NZ tourism web site launches online booking service

New Zealand Tourism Online - www.tourism.net.nz - the award-winning tourism website with over 12,000 New Zealand accommodation, travel, attractions and transport listings, has launched a booking service which allows tourists to book and pay for their holidays online.

Blair Glubb, Marketing Director of New Zealand Tourism Online owner Yellow Pages Group, said the online booking service uses software developed by New Zealand company BookIt. The new service was implemented to further strengthen the website's offering as a true one-stop shop for people planning their New Zealand holidays.

"Recent research from the Ministry of Tourism found that 51 percent of domestic travellers planned their trips online. This is confirmation that the internet plays a crucial part in our tourism industry, with travellers using the net in growing numbers.

"People are now much more comfortable booking direct and, as a leading tourism resource, there is an expectation that we offer a booking service to complement our successful directory-based website," he said.

Garry Bond, General Manager of New Zealand Tourism Online added that the online booking market had matured enough now and the time was right to add this option.

"We also can't accurately predict what a traveller wants to do when they visit our site," he said, "so this gives them the flexibility to view a tourism businesses website, make a general enquiry or book immediately."

"The BookIt system was also chosen as we are able to add accommodation, attraction, tour and transport operators to the mix, where traditionally online bookings have mainly been geared towards accommodation providers," Garry concluded.

International travellers researching and planning their holidays to New Zealand account for about 55 percent of New Zealand Tourism Online's web traffic, and it is expected that this group will be big users of the 'book and buy' service.

Mr Glubb said New Zealand Tourism Online had already signed up several hundred of its clients for the new online booking service and predicted that this number would grow as more and more tourism operators got the message that travellers wanted to have the ability to organise their holidays online.

"The advantage of online booking is that you are in control of planning and paying for your holiday—it's the convenience factor. And it's the same thing for the tourism operators - they combine their New Zealand Tourism Online listing with the online booking service to provide a seamless sales process, from browsing through to buying," said Mr Glubb.

Anne Cowan, manager of Queenstown's Comfort Inn Melbourne Lodge, was one of the first operators to sign up to the new service.

"'Most of our bookings used to be done via email with customers, and involved a lot of time exchanging emails. Now customers can book, pay and receive confirmation in an instant, which is a lot easier for them—and a big plus for us is that we receive payment within 24 hours of the customer completing their travel."

"It's especially useful for people booking from overseas. With the time difference it can sometimes take days to finalise a booking - now it's done overnight.

"The online booking system has already resulted in more business for us, that's for sure. People these days are short of time and the internet and online services allow them to organise and pay for their holidays quickly and easily," she said.

Ends