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www.Destina.ca, Canada's Full-Service Travel Site, Officially Opens for Business
Toronto - April 24, 2002 - CNW - Destina.ca, Canada's newest online travel site, today officially opened for business. As the exclusive partner of Air Canada's loyalty program, Aeroplan, Destina.ca is the only travel site that rewards customers with Aeroplan Miles for every purchase made online. In addition, the full-service site features Canadian content and time-saving functions for booking air transportation, hotel stays and car rentals at the click of a mouse. To promote Canada's newest online travel service, Destina.ca is offering a wide choice of special introductory deals.
The launch of Destina.ca comes at a time of rapid growth for the online travel industry as consumers, attracted by 24-hour convenience and low prices, are turning to the Internet for planning travel in increasing numbers. "Canadians are among the most Internet savvy consumers in the world," said Lise Fournel, President and Chief Executive Officer. "As the number of Canadians using the Internet for booking travel continues to grow, Destina.ca is well positioned to respond to consumers' needs through this uniquely Canadian site."
Canada's Most Rewarding Online Travel Service
"With today's launch of Destina.ca, Canada's most rewarding online travel site is now open for business," said Lise Fournel at a press conference in Toronto to announce the launch. "Thanks to our exclusive partnership with Aeroplan, Destina.ca is the only travel site to reward customers with Aeroplan Miles for every online purchase. With a growing roster of quality travel partners, Destina.ca will expand to offer customers low-cost, high-value products tailor made for Canadian travellers in a secure environment."
"Destina.ca provides our customers with a powerful tool to earn more Aeroplan Miles toward reward travel," added Lise Fournel. Destina.ca customers will receive one Aeroplan Mile for every three dollars in airfare purchases made on the Destina.ca site, regardless of which airline they choose, as well as 200 Aeroplan Miles for hotel reservations and 100 Aeroplan Miles for car rentals. These miles are in addition to Aeroplan Miles awarded for using credit and charge cards affiliated with Aeroplan for purchases, and for using Aeroplan partners for air travel, car rentals and hotel stays. Destina.ca will also frequently offer limited-time promotions that allow customers to earn even more Aeroplan Miles.
Travel At Low Prices
"Destina.ca's mission is to offer Canadians innovative travel solutions at low prices," added Lise Fournel. "We will continue to work with our travel partners to offer customers low airfares, including web-only prices and promotions unique to Canada, as well as great deals for lodging, rental cars and other travel and entertainment."
For an introductory period of three weeks, Destina.ca will not apply a service fee for online bookings as an incentive for customers to visit and use the site. As well, to celebrate today's launch, Renaissance, Delta and Hyatt hotels are offering Destina.ca customers promotions on accommodation, and Budget car rental is offering special low rates.
Also, Destina.ca is offering low introductory fares to many destinations served by its partner, Air Canada. The following are some highlights of these offers:
Domestic Canada Travel: Return fares available until April 26, 2002 for travel Tuesdays and Wednesdays only between April 30 and May 22, starting as low as: Edmonton-Calgary $197; Vancouver-Calgary $216; Edmonton-Vancouver $224; Toronto-Charlottetown $319.
United States Golf Destinations: Return fares available until April 26, 2002 for travel between April 25 and June 8, starting as low as: Toronto-Charleston SC $340; Toronto-Atlanta GA $368; Montréal-Richmond VA $392; Montréal-Charlotte NC $387; Edmonton-Charlotte NC $644; Halifax-Raleigh Durham NC $515; Edmonton-Nashville TN $715; Calgary-Phoenix AZ $416.
International Destinations: Return fares available until April 26, 2002 for travel between May 1 and May 22, starting as low as: Toronto-Antigua $530; Toronto-St. Lucia $530; Toronto-Montego Bay $544; Toronto-London Heathrow $605; Vancouver-London Heathrow $746; Vancouver-Melbourne $935; Vancouver-Taipei $873.
In addition, Destina.ca is negotiating special rates and services with preferred travel partners including airlines, hotels and car rental agencies to provide customers enhanced value for their travel dollar, and in the future intends to pursue negotiations with cruise lines, tour operators and event organizers to provide a diverse and constantly growing product offering to meet travellers' needs.
Destina.ca Is About Empowerment
"Destina.ca is all about empowerment," continued Lise Fournel. "It's about giving our customers the freedom to make their own choices about where and when to travel. Destina.ca offers customers the convenience of one-stop travel shopping, from anywhere, at any time, featuring product offerings specifically tailored to the Canadian market. Our aim is to constantly evolve with the lifestyles of our customers."
In addition to appealing to price sensitive leisure travellers, Destina.ca has been developed with the needs of value conscious small businesses in mind. Business travellers will appreciate time-saving features for booking air travel, car rentals and hotel accommodation in one transaction. Moreover, airfares displayed on Destina.ca are for flights actually available on given dates, saving time and providing real time price availability. Destina.ca is also practical for planning small group travel, allowing for bookings up to seven people in one transaction.
Using advanced technology, Destina.ca customers will be able to create personal profiles securely and confidentially to store useful information, including recent reservations, travel preferences and frequent trip templates to save valuable time and make trip planning easier. The Destina.ca site also features practical travel planning tools providing destination and weather information, currency converters, maps, flight status and driving directions.
A Focus On Customer Care
Throughout the site development process, Destina.ca conducted several test phases and obtained extensive customer input. "It became very clear to us during the test phases that customers want 24-hour access to dedicated customer care professionals," said Lise Fournel. "We took the decision early on to make a major investment in this area to ensure that our customers have a positive and rewarding travel planning experience.
"We will continue to actively seek the advice of our customers to create a superior travel site and ensure that Destina.ca remains efficient, easy to use and responsive to their needs. Listening to customers is central to our corporate culture, and we intend to actively involve customers in the evolution of Destina.ca going forward."
About Destina.ca
Destina.ca is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Air Canada (TSE: AC). It operates Canada's full-service online travel site offering low prices and one-stop access to 450 airlines, 53,000 hotels and 52 car rental agencies. Destina.ca is the only online travel site to reward all purchases with Aeroplan Miles. Destina.ca offers customers a personalized web experience and fully bilingual customer care to assist with all online purchases 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Editorial Contact:
Jeremy Towsey-French
Conducive Technology Corp.
503-740-5840
pr@conducivetech.com
Trademarks mentioned in this release are the intellectual property of their respective owners.
© 2002 Conducive Technology, Corp. All rights reserved.
Source: Conducive Technology Corp.
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