Online travel agencies are voicing their concerns over the acquisition of airline flight information aggregators ITA Software by Google. ITA is a Massachusetts-based firm which was set up in 1996 by a group of MIT scientists. The firm provides data on airfares, flight times and ticket availability to the travel industry. In short, it is the bridge between the airlines and the customer facing travel agents.
Google said that it has acquired ITA in order to supply users of its search engine with an easier and more convenient tool with which to access information about flights and airfares. The internet giant [...]

The FIFA World Cup is proving a huge financial boon for South Africa.
Visiting football fans to the republic have been spending up large, with car rental, hotel and hospitality industries all reaping the rewards associated with the biggest sporting event outside of the Olympics.
According to data released yesterday by Visa, which monitors cardholder spending, international visitors have spent nearly one billion South African Rand, or ZAR, equivalent to £90 million, in the first couple of weeks of the tournament.
Figures released by the card provider showed in the week before the opening ceremony and during the first ten days of games, [...]

The FIFA World Cup 2010 in South Africa has not seen the anticipated upsurge in demand, leaving business prospects uncertain.
The seeming acceptance of the situation followed the drastic reduction in forecasts and bookings of foreign visitors to South Africa for the tournament. Several large clients and sponsors have also declined to attend the championship, citing the slow pace of economic recovery as the reason for reluctance to outlay costs.
In South Africa, figures for the sale of new vehicles to car rental companies rose significantly in the first quarter of 2010, with 9407 units sold representing an 89 per cent increase [...]

Online travel company, Expedia, has announced the launch of a new charity initiative. TravelRelief has been set up by Expedia Affiliate Network to provide customers with the opportunity of donating money to charitable organisations participating in the scheme. Through TravelRelief.org, those booking a hotel through Expedia will now be able to contribute at least eight per cent of the booking price to a participating organisation of their choice.
According to senior director, marketing and strategy for EAN, Lily Cheng, TravelRelief has been designed to help non-profit organisations see moral support converted into financial support to help fund their projects. TravelRelief has [...]

The world’s leading travel transaction processor and technology partner, Amadeus, has unveiled a new car booking tool.
The new vehicle reservation engine will employ a user-friendly interface and cutting edge technology to better assist travel agents making customer bookings.
The program, which forms part of version 6.1 of the Amadeus Selling Platform, will be made available from this summer, with agents able to access the Cars Plus service in up to ten different languages via the Amadeus global booking system.
Cars Plus, in addition to offering an intuitive booking service, will also feature a host of new sales tools designed to deliver the [...]

A new study has revealed just what nasty surprises have laid in store for UK vacationers. A disappointing standard of accommodation and unwanted additional extra charges were the most annoying annoyances reported in the survey, undertaken by Britain’s premier car hire comparison website carrentals.co.uk.
Some 1,500 people were queried on their vacation experiences by the survey, with 40 per cent of British holidaymakers stating that unexpected costs were top of the nasty surprise list. From within this percentage, the most common cause for complaint was related to the car rental industry – highlighting the need for thorough and accurate booking information prior to [...]

In an attempt to stem the flow of cocaine from Brazil to France, a joint operation between French and Brazilian police has been launched. Every passenger on three flights from Sao Paulo to Paris on Wednesday last week was subjected to a full body frisk, and had their carry on luggage as well as luggage stored in the hold, thoroughly inspected. Two Brazilian TAM flights coming from Paris to Sao Paolo were also searched, according to a French police liaison officer.
The unusual measures were implemented as an experiment to see whether the authorities could disrupt drug smuggling between Brazil and [...]

Leading German car rental agency Sixt has unveiled its first quarter results and reports that the financial year has begun brightly.
Widely popular with UK holidaymakers, Sixt made a significant increase in the quarter which has traditionally been the lowest for income generation. Sixt, which is also one of Europe’s foremost mobility service providers, announced that pre-tax earnings had grown by a massive a €42.6 million to final figure of €8 million.
The figure was called encouraging in light of the uncertain economic recovery, as Sixt also managed to match the high service levels of the same period last year in its [...]

Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore MP opened the first public electric car charging station in Australia yesterday.
The on-street charging spot is located in Derby Place, Glebe. It is managed by ChargePoint and installed by Visionstream. The station uses 100 per cent Origin GreenPower and can recharge converted plug-in hybrids such as a Toyota Prius in three hours.
Ms Moore said that Sydney has joined other cities around the world that have installed electric vehicle charging stations, such as Amsterdam, Houston, San Francisco, London and Vancouver. Over 700,000 vehicles travel throughout the Local Government Area in Sydney every day, contributing significantly to [...]

Carrentals.co.uk has released guidelines with advice for football fans making the journey to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
The leading car rental comparison site asked fans to carefully plan and prepare before leaving home in order to ensure the best time possible at the World Cup finals. Travellers from all across the globe will meet in South Africa next month to watch their teams compete.
The Carrentals.co.uk guidelines are intended for World Cup fans who will watch each game live. Gareth Robinson, Managing Director of Carrentals.co.uk, said that fans making their way to South Africa in June can ensure a [...]