Zuji NZ Attracts Business Travel Spend

MEDIA RELEASE APRIL 2005

Zuji NZ Attracts Business Travel Spend

ZUJI, Asia Pacific’s leading online travel company, and the latest entrant in the battle for online travel bookings in New Zealand (NZ), is finding a ready market here for the budget conscious small and medium sized (SME) business travel market according to ZUJI New Zealand’s general manager David Allen.

First and business class travel bookings are very strong on ZUJI NZ, and at almost double the booking rate of comparable ZUJI markets around Asia Pacific.

Explaining the trend, Mr Allen said, “New Zealand travelers do not have the misconception that booking flights online is only for booking economy seats, which does occur in some other countries. In fact, it is just as easy to reserve a first or business class seat on ZUJI as it is an economy seat, which can offer savings in excess of $500 on some long haul international routes*”.

Mr Allen added that the trend towards business and first class flight bookings reflects the mile high workspace approach, which is important for New Zealand business people, given the time they spend in the air. He also believes that the introduction of business beds on flights out of New Zealand by some airline carriers is helping to deliver travelers to their destination in a better business-ready state.

The trend of SME’s using ZUJI to book travel online, rather than use a corporate or traditional bricks and mortar travel agent, extends across Asia Pacific. ZUJI estimates that between 10-15% of bookings on ZUJI sites across the regional are made by SMEs or for business related purposes. In some markets like Hong Kong and Singapore the figure is closer to 25% as people choose the ‘Net to buy their flights and hotels for business online.

“Business people are flocking to ZUJI because they can make significant cost savings by booking their trip or hotel online, for the convenience and control they have over their schedule, for the ability to book from their PC at any time of the day or night any day of the week, and for the ability to see available seats at a glace on a wide range of options and prices on one web site. New Zealand business travelers value the ability to quickly look, book and pay online, and in many cases, receive an e-ticket within minutes.”

Allen added that in addition to business travelers, he’s seeing many kiwis and ‘ex-pats’ around the globe use the ZUJI NZ site because of the high value of NZ dollar, and the fact they have funds in New Zealand based bank accounts.

Currently more than 97% of ZUJI NZ’s bookings are not only booked, but also paid for online. ZUJI NZ has already accepted an online transactions in excess of $16,000 online with no human intervention, and in Australia the figure is A$30,000 for a cruise transaction. “Credit card online phobia has all but vanished, thanks to ZUJI’s comprehensive security measures and trust in ZUJI’s international brand.”

Mr Allen returned this month from a global ZUJI conference in Phuket, Thailand where he joined the ZUJI executive team management and product planning sessions, which also involved representatives from Travelocity, part owners of ZUJI, as well as numerous ZUJI travel industry suppliers and partners.

About ZUJI

ZUJI is New Zealand’s fastest growing online travel booking agency. Throughout the Asia Pacific region it is experiencing rapid growth, with hotel sales on ZUJI tracking at more than 300% year on year growth (to end Dec 04), and ZUJI Australia is still leaping forward with year on year transaction growth of 167%.

ZUJI is joint venture between Travelocity, an international leader in online travel, and 15 leading airlines operating in Asia-Pacific: All Nippon Airways, Cathay Pacific Airways, China Airlines, EVA Airways, Garuda Indonesia, Hong Kong Dragon Airlines, Japan Airlines, Malaysia Airlines, Northwest Airlines, Philippine Airlines, Qantas Airways, Royal Brunei Airlines, SilkAir, Singapore Airlines and United Airlines.

ZUJI is Asia Pacific’s leading pan-Asia online travel company, with headquarters in Singapore, and with teams and travel websites in:

Singapore Hong Kong Taiwan Australia Korea New Zealand*
www.zuji.com.sg In English www.zuji.com.hk In English and Cantonese www.zuji.com.tw In Traditional Chinese (ZUJI operates as ZUJI Buylow in Taiwan - pronounced 'zu-ji-bai-lou') www.zuji.com.au In English www.nextour.co.kr In Korean
ZUJI operates as ‘Nextour’ in Korea) www.zuji.co.nz

In English

* ZUJI New Zealand is powered by ZUJI, and managed by Gullivers Pacific, New Zealand’s largest travel group.

ZUJI’s ‘Travel Partner Network’ division allows third-party travel suppliers, agents and web sites to harness the travel booking functionality of ZUJI for flight, hotel, packages, activities and other travel content and products.

ZUJI’s travel network partners include:
Lonely Planet (Asia)
Yahoo! (Australia, Singapore & Korea)
MSN (Singapore & Korea)
AsiaOne (A premier news portal in Singapore)
Expat Express (Singapore)
Atnext (Hong Kong)
Taiwan Top Tours (China Times Travel Services for Taiwan domestic itineraries)
Naver.com (Korea)
Korean Air (Korea, providing for ‘Honeymoon’ and ‘Woman’ travel portals)

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