CarTrawler to power new Abacus travel agent technology

DUBLIN - CarTrawler has announced a new partnership with Asia-Pacific’s leading travel technology provider, Abacus International. The collaboration makes a vast new array of ground transportation and chauffeur driven services available online to travel agents at over 20,000 locations within the aggregated booking platform, Abacus ContentPlus, due for release in Q1, 2015.

As a launch partner, CarTrawler will gain increased visibility and share of the largest B2B channel in the Asia-Pacific region, serving a car rental market estimated by Phocuswright to be worth US$6.8 billion this year and US$8.9 billion by 2016. The company adds to an existing Abacus ground transportation portfolio the pre-paid content of over 1,300 car rental suppliers, together with chauffeur-driven services in 30,000 airport and city locations.

For Abacus, CarTrawler consolidates an otherwise highly fragmented ground transportation landscape, making it easier for travel agents to offer the chauffeured and transfer options favoured in some Asian markets while broadening the choice for traditional fly-drive in others.

Commenting in Dublin, Michael Cunningham, Chief Commercial Officer at CarTrawler said: “We’re excited to be enabling our ground transportation content for Abacus ContentPlus because it will deliver real value. The new platform will allow travel agents across Asia-Pacific to seamlessly offer the world’s widest choice of ground transportation options to their customers, whilst ensuring that they receive their commissions immediately.”

Martin Symes, Chief Marketing Officer for Abacus added: “Abacus travel agents will be able to retail CarTrawler options separately or bundle them as fixed or dynamic packages with flights, accommodation, activities, insurances and more. CarTrawler is an ideal B2B2C launch partner for web-based Abacus ContentPlus, adding substantially to the choice of booking options for Abacus’ agents.”

sourced:traveldailynews.asia