BELLEVUE, Wash. -- Expedia is on a shopping spree, of sorts:
Monday, as reported, it revealed it was buying corporate agency
Egencia in Europe, and Tuesday Expedia said it is acquiring Hawaii
tour reseller Activity World. The terms of both transactions were
not disclosed.
Expedia said Activity World, which is based in Maui and has more
than 80 employees, sells more than 154,000 destination-services
packages annually and it operates more than 24 kiosks in hotels and
other locales on Maui.
At the kiosks, travelers can book everything from snorkeling
excursions to helicopter tours, Expedia said.
Expedia, referring to its Web sites and the kiosks, said the
acquisition, which it expects to close in April, will make Expedia
"the first online travel company to offer customers the option of
booking in-destination activities online or on location at their
vacation property."
That's true, unless the consumer has access to a computer or
Web-enabled handheld device, which gives travelers the ability to
book destination activities from a variety of Web sites.
Expedia, which already owns Hawaii-active Classic Custom
Vacations, said the purchase of Activity World will "significantly
expand the destination services" that Expedia offers in Hawaii.
Expedia's purchase of Activity World also reflects the push
among online travel sellers to enhance their offerings of tours and
other destination activities.
Viator, with offices in San Francisco and Australia, recently
became a tour provider for Orbitz and the British site,
Lastminute.com. Viator used to provide this service for Expedia, as
well.
Viator aggregates some 1,400 tour products from 300 suppliers
and distributes them to Web sites, suppliers and some GDSs.
Meanwhile, VRX Studios of Vancouver just enhanced its city maps,
which many suppliers use on their Web sites to help sell tours.
VRX -- whose clients range from Expedia to Disney and from
Hilton to Princess -- Monday unveiled at http://europe.vrxstudios.com city maps that are 60%
larger than their predecessors and enhanced images of the
attractions within those metropolises.
Clicking on the Paris map and the views of the Louvre, for
instance, produces virtual tours of the Louvre's exterior and the
entrance hall.
Each image of an attraction also has text that provides more
information about the activity or venue.