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VFM Leonardo, leading distributor of visual hotel content, is already the sole distributor of hotel visual content on the Galileo system, provided through its VScape® Digital Asset Management System (VScape), and Galileo-connected travel agents have been able to access an extensive range of hotel photos, virtual tours and videos on hotels and resorts worldwide. Following positive customer feedback on the value of this visual content, Travelport GDS has extended the relationship with VFM Leonardo to also include its Worldspan system. Importantly, under the new agreement, using VFM Leonardo’s VScape web-based tool, Travelport GDS is now able to offer the thousands of hoteliers who participate in its GDS systems, the ability to upload their visual hotel content onto both Travelport GDS platforms at the same time, creating a more cost-efficient and streamlined process. Using the VScape platform, hoteliers will also have the option to distribute the same visual content to thousands of additional channels in VFM Leonardo’s VNetwork™, the largest online visual content distribution network for the global travel industry. Keith Harrison, Travelport GDS’s Director of Strategic Content, hotels, commented: “Access to hotel imagery is extremely useful when shopping for hotels and really enables the end-traveller to better visualize the hotel experience and make an informed travel choice.” “By accessing visual hotel content exclusively from VFM Leonardo, we are ensuring that the visual content now available to our 63,000 Travelport GDS-connected agents worldwide is totally consistent regardless of whether they are booking through the Galileo or Worldspan platform. What’s more, by providing a single interface into Travelport GDS, we are offering our hotel customers a much more user-friendly process. “This is another tangible benefit of our integration and our ability to offer our customers “best of breed” solutions and content combined with more efficient processes. Now, more than ever, both our hotel customers and our travel agency customers need our focus and support to help them speed up processes and create new revenue streams.” Paolo Boni, President and CEO of VFM Leonardo, said: “We are delighted to be selected by Travelport GDS as its exclusive provider of visual hotel content. With its global network of travel agency customers, coupled with our extensive database of visual hotel content and industry-leading platform, we will be able to provide our mutual hotel partners with the opportunity to enhance the presentation of their properties online and hopefully stimulate a growth in sales.” Travelport GDS confirmed this latest hotel initiative formed a key part of its long term hospitality strategy and its ongoing commitment to enhance the booking process for both hoteliers and travel agents. About Travelport  Travelport is one of the world's largest
travel conglomerates offering broad
based business services to companies operating in the global travel
industry. Travelport
is comprised of the global distribution system (GDS) business that
includes the
Worldspan and Galileo brands; GTA, a leading global, multi-channel
provider of
hotel and ground services; IT Services and Software, which hosts
mission
critical applications and provides business and data analysis solutions
for
major airlines. With 2008 revenues of $2.5 billion, Travelport operates
in 160
countries and has over 5,500 employees. Travelport also owns approximately 48% of Orbitz Worldwide (NYSE: OWW), a leading global online travel company. Travelport is a private company owned by The Blackstone Group, One Equity Partners, Technology Crossover Ventures and Travelport management. About VFM Leonardo  VFM
Leonardo is a technology leader in online visual content management and
distribution for the hotel industry. VFM Leonardo's VScape® and
VBrochure™
products leverage the distribution capabilities of the VNetwork™, the
most
universally accepted and largest online visual content distribution
network for
the global travel industry. VFM Leonardo offers the most effective
digital
asset management and online merchandising systems available today with
over
1,000,000 visual images (photos, virtual tours and videos) for 90,000
hotels
worldwide currently in distribution across the VNetwork. All four
global
distribution systems (GDSs) - Amadeus, Galileo, Sabre, Worldspan - as
well as Pegasus
source hotel visual content exclusively through VScape. Tens of
thousands of
travel-related channels including online travel agencies, travel
research and
supplier web sites, search portals; Travelocity, Orbitz, Priceline,
Tripadvisor, Yahoo! Travel, Kayak, Google and more also source visual
content
through VScape, many exclusively. For more information about VFM
Leonardo,
visit www.vfmleonardo.com.
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