We recently went through a rigorous vetting process and have just learnt we’ve been invite to demo our new Social Travel Marketplace at the World’s most prestigious travel conference. The PhoCusWright conference is the annual flagship event for the travel industry research leader and so it’s quite a feat to get one of the coveted 30 spots to demonstrate a new travel innovation.

Hope to see you there!

The press release is below.

Sydney, Australia, October 20th 2009 - Tourabout (http://www.tourabout.com), the company launching the Social GDS (currently in private beta) for the travel industry, has been selected to be featured at The PhoCusWright Travel Innovation Summit. Senior analysts from PhoCusWright evaluate and invite just 30 companies globally to demonstrate at the event (held November 17, 2009 in Orlando, Florida) that showcases the year’s most compelling travel technology innovations to senior industry executives.

“This event is for innovations that PhoCusWright believes will significantly impact travel so to be invited is a great stamp of approval” said Ben Jackson CEO of Tourabout. “We look forward to demonstrating the Web3.0 travel platform that will fundamentally shift the way travel companies connect to and engage with travellers in the future.”

“The live demo of The Social GDST will focus on how the platform’s interlinked social, media and product technologies help operators and organisations connect and engage travellers in real-time early in the planning process to demonstrate expertise, build social equity and increase bookings.” added Mr. Jackson.

At The Innovation Summit, the audience will judge innovators live by voting after each demonstration to send four finalists to the coveted “Five Minutes of Fame” presentation during Center Stage at The PhoCusWright Conference later in the week. This will place the top four innovations squarely infront the most influential travel industry executives where one will be named the Travel Innovation of 2009.

“Many travel organisations struggle with The Social Web so we’re very confident The Social GDS will capture the attention of attendees as well as the travel and technology sectors in general.” added Mr. Jackson. “Partners we talk to are very excited about how it overlays commerce and community to help them to engage and influence potential customers much higher in the booking funnel.”

Ends.

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About The Travel Innovation Summit.
PhoCusWright Travel Innovation Summit presents the next wave of innovation in the travel industry and analyzes the ensuing impact on the travel business. Thirty innovators from around the world demonstrate applications, mobile technology and solutions that significantly impact travel planning, purchasing and memorializing.

About PhoCusWright Inc.
PhoCusWright is the travel industry research authority on how travelers, suppliers and intermediaries connect. Independent, rigorous and unbiased, PhoCusWright fosters smart strategic planning and tactical decision-making.

PhoCusWright delivers qualitative and quantitative research on the evolving dynamics that influence travel, tourism and hospitality distribution. Our marketplace intelligence is the industry standard for segmentation, sizing, forecasting, trends, analysis and consumer travel planning behavior.
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About Tourabout:

Tourabout helps tour operators, wholesalers and DMO’s engage travellers and sell product with a range of emerging social, media and product technologies delivered B2B and B2C.

With over 30,000 products from local, international and multinational tour operators as well as destination activity companies, entertainment, attraction and events providers Tourabout is one of the world’s largest land product GDS’.

Tourabout’s land product sale and merchandising tools are currently used by over 4000 travel agents including Flight Centre.

Previously: The principals of Tourabout developed travel technology (whereto.com.au) - acquired by Travelocity in 2001.

Tourabout is a privately held, privately funded company based in Sydney, Australia.

For more information visit http://www.tourabout.com/corp