Travel Search Engine Tours.com adds Travel Agent Search

Internet Travel Search Engine Tours.com Now Offers Worldwide Travel Agent Search Capabilities

New Search Category Further Enhances Tours.com’s
Position as the Ultimate Travel Research Site

SAN FRANCISCO (February 15, 2005) - Tours.com, the Internet site with the Web’s most comprehensive travel search engine, today announced the launch of its newest search category: worldwide travel agent search by specialty. Tours.com is a privately held corporation based in San Francisco, California.

In addition to offering many other travel-related resources such as its extensive listing of tours and vacations, Tours.com now offers contact information and descriptions of travel agents located around the world. In the new Tours.com Travel Agent Search section, consumers can now search for travel professionals based on the agent’s specific niche or specialty. Travelers can find agents that are particularly knowledgeable about areas such as eco tours, surfing trips, honeymoons, or travel to Katmandu. As with all of the travel suppliers listed on Tours.com, each travel agent who registers to be listed on the site has their data personally reviewed and verified by Tours.com staff, ensuring accuracy. The site is offered in nine different languages, making it the ultimate travel research site for travelers around the world.

"The growing popularity of our site and requests from our users provided the impetus to add this new search category to our site," said Tours.com President Maria Polk. "Our site visitors wanted an unbiased, accurate online source where they could easily find travel agents with unique specializations. Although our site and the Web in general are wonderful sources with an abundance of travel planning information, it’s a known fact that when consumers complete their online research, they typically seek out a travel agent when it’s time to book their trip. With the addition of our travel agent search, Tours.com is now an even better place to plan a trip whether it be for business or leisure."

Tours.com was founded in 1995 by three veterans of the travel directory publishing industry. Leveraging the experience and travel industry contacts they’d garnered over two decades of publishing hard-copy directories for the travel agency community, they created the Web’s first online directory of tours and vacations. Since then, the site has expanded to include tens of thousands of other travel providers and resources, efficiently organized by category and type.

Searchable categories include:

Tours & Vacations
Cruises, Barges, Charter Boats, Yachts, Ferries
Railroads & Rail Vacations
Cars, Limousines, Motorcycle Rentals
Airlines, Air Consolidators, Charter Jets
Hotels, Apartments, Castles, Villas, Timeshare and Vacation Rentals
Sports, Concerts, Event Ticket Sellers
Maps, including Subway, Airport & Trail Maps
Translation Services

Currency Conversions
Travel Insurance Providers
Online Travel Guides, Newsletters & Blogs
Cyber Cafes & ATM Machines
Visitors Bureaus
International Government Agencies & Passport Services
Charter Bus Services
Major Online Travel Booking Sites
Sightseeing & Local Attractions

"The variety of holiday and vacation options that can be found on Tours.com is truly astonishing," said Ms. Polk. "Where else can you find out about motorcycle rentals in Alaska, see the dining menu of the luxurious Blue Train in South Africa, view the itinerary of an 11-day tour of Bosnia, Croatia and Slovenia, rent a room in a castle in England, or learn about an around-the-world expedition by private jet? If you’re researching a future trip or even just trying to decide where you want to go, Tours.com is the perfect online resource. On our site, you can view trip itineraries, find last-minute vacation specials, view videos and pictures of destinations, research city or country visitors bureaus, view essential maps of destinations, airport terminals, subway routes, or ski and trail maps, find wheel-chair accessible rental cars...all in one spot, with the ability to book your trips directly with the supplier or travel agent specialist. With Tours.com, your vacation possibilities are endless!"

Tours.com is not an online travel agency, and therefore does not rely on commissions for revenues as most other travel sites do. It operates purely as an unbiased information service for leisure and business travelers and travel industry professionals, relying on advertising as its primary source of income. According to a recent report by Merrill Lynch, online advertising was expected reach $9.7 billion in 2004, or about 3.7 percent of United States advertising spending. That number is expected to grow 19 percent this year as the nation's largest advertisers shift budgets from print and network television to cable and the Internet, the report said.

Tours.com was recently named the official tour and vacation search engine for the New York Daily News’ Web site. Providers of travel services and resources around the world are welcome to add their information to Tours.com for free. Go to the Tours.com home page or click on: http://www.tours.com/enterdb.php. Potential advertisers can call (415) 332-7916 or email: [email protected].

About Tours.com

Tours.com (http://www.tours.com) is the Internet’s most comprehensive travel search engine, providing descriptions and direct links to tens of thousands of tours and vacations, travel agents, travel suppliers and other travel-related resources around the world. Unlike other search engines that rely on computerized "Web crawlers" to gather data, Tours.com’s free travel listings are submitted by the actual travel suppliers and are edited and verified by a team of Tours.com employees, making the site the ultimate research tool for both leisure and business travelers worldwide. Tours.com’s business model, which is based on advertising revenues instead of transaction fees, enables it to remain unbiased as well as support the continued expansion of its database of free listings. Travel suppliers are welcome to submit a free listing at: http://www.tours.com/enterdb.php. Formed in 1995, Tours.com is a privately held corporation based in San Francisco, California.

Corporate fact sheet go to: http://www.tours.com/

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