CWT Makes International Booking Easier for China-Based Business Travelers

Press Release

CWT Makes International Booking Easier for China-Based Business Travelers

CWT’s online booking tool for international travel is a first for the industry

BEIJING, September 5, 2012 – Carlson Wagonlit Travel (CWT) today announces the launch of its online booking tool (OBT), CWT Online, which makes booking international travel easier for China-based business travelers. An industry-first, CWT Online is the only international OBT currently available in China. CWT Online is powered by TravelSky, the leading provider of information technology and commercial services to China’s air travel and tourism industry.

China is one of the world’s fastest growing markets for business travel and CWT has recognized the high demand in this market for innovative products and online solutions to support travelers.

CWT Online now gives travelers access to real time international air bookings, including market fares, client corporate fares and specific airline promotional fares. It allows travelers to carry out searches by airline, type of ticket (one way or round trip) and by price. Each quote generated includes lowest fare, corporate fare, itinerary and link to service team information. Available in Chinese and English, CWT Online also incorporates travel policy information.

Albert Zhong, general manager CWT China said, “business travel is continuing to grow and currently Beijing Capital International is the second busiest airport in the world. With the continued growth of air traffic in China, providing our clients with this type of tool and giving them easy access to international online booking facilities sets us apart from the rest”.

“Clients can reduce their average ticket price, increase policy compliance, and reduce transaction costs and the internal cost of processing travel. The simplicity of CWT Online really encourages travelers to adopt self-booking”, continued Zhong.

CWT Online is a further extension to CWT’s existing OBT for domestic travel in China; available since 2007, it has gained significant online adoption of over 60% among CWT clients.

CWT China has further strengthened its strategic relationship with TravelSky to develop an OBT with an international component and interface.

Mr. Peng Bo, general manager, GDS Business Department, TravelSky Technology Ltd says “we are excited to work with CWT China to bring this functionality to their clients and business travelers”.

CWT Online is already being successfully used by two prominent clients in China with excellent results. CWT China is currently incorporating the tool within all China-based clients’ travel programs.

About Carlson Wagonlit Travel
CWT is a global leader specialized in managing business travel and meetings and events. CWT serves companies, government institutions and non-governmental organizations of all sizes in more than 150 countries and territories. By leveraging both the expertise of its people and leading-edge technology, CWT helps clients derive the greatest value from their travel program in terms of savings, service, security and sustainability. The company is also committed to providing best-in-class service and assistance to travelers. CWT services and solutions comprise Traveler & Transaction Services, Program Optimization, Safety & Security, Meetings & Events and Energy Services. In 2011, sales volume for wholly owned operations and joint ventures totaled US$28.0 billion. For more information about CWT, please visit our global website at www.carlsonwagonlit.com/. Follow us on twitter.com/CarlsonWagonlit.

About TravelSky
As a leading provider of information technology and commercial service in China’s air travel and tourism industry, TravelSky’s Core business is oriented toward airlines, airports, ticket sales agents, travel enterprises and relevant civil aviation institutions and international organizations, providing comprehensive service including air passenger service, air travel distribution, airport passenger processing, air cargo data processing, internet travel platform, domestic and international transport revenue management system as well as final settlement and liquidation services. After 30 years of development and improvement, a complete, rich and powerful information service line and a multi-tier service-oriented system for different customers have been established to increase the efficiency of industry players.

Media Contacts

Weber Shandwick
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Edward Guo / Yvonne Fang Tom Scott
+86 10 8569 9926/+86 10 8569 9851 + 33 1 41 33 67 57 (office)
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eguo@webershandwick.com/ yfang@webershandwick.com tscott@carlsonwagonlit.com