Singapore, 9th December 2014 - CarTrawler has today 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 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 car rental 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 options favoured in some Asian markets while broadening the choice for traditional fly-drive in others.
Commenting in Dublin today, 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.”
About CarTrawler
Established in 2004 and headquartered in Dublin, CarTrawler provides aviation, travel, hospitality, leisure and consumer brands with a direct connection to over 1,300 leading and independent car rental agents, shuttle bus companies, limousine and chauffeur drive services in over 30,000 airport and city locations across different 174 countries. CarTrawler currently employs 300 staff in Dublin, London and Boston. The company is headquartered in Dublin, Ireland with additional offices in Boston and London.
For further information, please visit www.cartrawler.com
About Abacus International
Singapore-based Abacus International is Asia-Pacific's leading provider of travel solutions and services with more than 20,000 travel agency locations in 31 markets. With over 26 years of experience in fusing international best practices and local expertise with global and local partnerships, Abacus provides travel information and reservations specifically tailored to the Asia-Pacific region.
Abacus International is owned by Sabre and a consortium of Asia's leading airlines including All Nippon Airways, Cathay Pacific, China Airlines, EVA Airways, Garuda Indonesia, Dragonair, Philippine Airlines, Malaysia Airlines, Royal Brunei Airlines, SilkAir and Singapore Airlines. Sabre is the global leader in the electronic distribution of travel and travel related services.
More information on Abacus can be found at www.abacus.com.sg.