Montreal, Canada - March 16, 2004 - Accovia Inc., the global leader in travel packaging technology, today announced that it has given the specifications for its Travel Application Protocol (TAP) to the OpenTravelT Alliance (OTA) for use in the creation of a standards-based protocol for bundling multiple travel components under a single price. An industry standard packaging protocol would simplify connectivity processes between disparate selling and buying systems, increasing speed-to-market as well as exchange of complex travel products and services.

Dynamic packaging is becoming a competitive requirement for many travel agencies, tour operators, airlines, hotels and resorts. Accovia's XML-based Travel Application Protocol empowers travel providers, distributors and sellers to interconnect and transact with each other, using a simple mapping schema which supports the exchange of all information involved in assembling, pricing and booking multiple components, as well as subsequent changes, cancellations or modifications. Without costly investment in proprietary technology integration and interfaces, travel providers, wholesalers and online travel agencies can use the TAP protocol to easily connect to marketplaces that support web-based or traditional distribution channels. 

OTA is a conglomerate working to create and implement industry-wide, open e-business specifications. These specifications form a common e-business language that will encourage development of systems to create new collections of services to better meet the demands and expectations of travelers and the travel industry. Specifications for Accovia's TAP protocol are being shared with OTA to develop a common, standards-based protocol that can be used by the entire travel industry to communicate and transact information for pre-assembled or dynamic packaging. 

"Accovia has a wealth of experience with packaging technology," said Graham Hauck, executive director, OTA. "We are pleased they have offered to share this technical expertise and business knowledge with the travel industry.  Accovia's packaging specification could facilitate the development of a standard protocol that will be made available to all OTA members." 

"In order to create free-flowing electronic marketplaces for selling multi-component travel services, we need a standard form of communication between all systems," said Claude Guay, president and CEO of Accovia.  "OTA is accomplishing this at the individual component level and we are happy to share our knowledge and expertise to reach the next level, which is to set standards for transacting travel products assembled into packages." 

About Accovia

Accovia, Inc. is the industry's leading provider of travel packaging technology. The company offers the only travel automation and management product suite for procuring, packaging, selling and distributing multi-component travel services through GDS, call center, Internet and direct channels. Accovia's technology solutions enable travel wholesalers and retailers to significantly increase profit margins through the ability to create static or dynamic travel packages, which are then sold under a single price. The company provides the only complete travel distribution service that cost-effectively connects travel marketers and distributors to GDSs and Internet travel channels using a single connection. Accovia's technology solutions can be fully customized and privately labeled to accommodate diverse business models. More than 40 travel companies in 10 countries use Accovia's technology to send over 25 million people on trips each year. Founded in 1985, the company has offices in the United States, Canada and France. For more information about Accovia, visit www.accovia.com.

Accovia is a trademark of Accovia, Inc. Any other marks used in this document are trademarks or registered trademarks of the manufacturers or marketers of the products with which the marks are associated.