Viola Thompson
Government Services
Omega World Travel
703-359-8866
E-mail: vthompson@owt.net

The Department of the Interior is First to Offer a
Department Wide On-Line Booking
Product to its Travelers

FAIRFAX, VIRGINIA -- December 18, 2000 -- Omega World Travel and the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) have teamed with Worldspan to offer "Trip Manager for Government," the first large-scale implementation of an Internet based booking product for government travelers. This technology combines Worldspan’s "Trip Manager", the unique travel requirements of the government, and Omega’s 300 proprietary quality checks and online fulfillment expertise for air, car and hotel reservations 24 hours a day.

DOI, a $60 million Omega account with 50,000 travelers, began using Trip Manager for Government during October 2000. Due to the vast number of travelers and wide range of geographical locations of the account, implementation will be staggered at each bureau over a six-month period. Complete implementation of Trip Manager for Government at DOI is scheduled for March 2001.

Gay Flynn, Midwest Regional Travel Manager of the National Park Service, praised the new Trip Manager for Government product. She said, "As an initial user, I have had the opportunity to demonstrate Trip Manager for hundreds of National Park Service personnel. Invariably the reaction is unqualified enthusiasm for this time-saving, navigable Web-based booking system." She added, "It’s wonderful, I really like the product."

Dan Bohan, Chief Operating Officer of Omega World Travel, said, "Omega is proud to have played a role in introducing an on-line travel booking and fulfillment technology to such a forward thinking agency as DOI."

Online booking through Trip manager for Government offers government institutions an excellent way to ensure compliance with travel policies, leverage government rates, and give travelers greater control over their travel decisions. It simplifies government travel management, allowing travelers to plan itineraries at their convenience and providing government travel planners with one simple solution to administer travel policies. Most importantly, Trip Manager for Government is designed exclusively to meet the special requirements of government travel. For example, Trip Manager features General Services Administration (GSA) contracted air carriers, displays government airline rates from the Airline City Pair Program, displays hotels that offer government discount rates, accesses government car rental rates, accesses continental United States and foreign per diem rates, offers links to the GSA home page and other government Web sites, and much more.

Government travelers using Trip Manger can create or change worldwide air, car, and hotel reservations 24 hours a day, select airline seating from a live seat map, book repeat trips, receive a special prompt when a change in air travel plans affects an existing car and/or hotel booking, search for a hotel by name or landmark, view maps of hotel locations, and print and e-mail travel itineraries.

Omega World Travel, headquartered in Fairfax, Virginia, is a high-tech, full-service travel management company serving corporate, government, and leisure clients throughout the United States and the world. Founded in 1972 in Fredericksburg, Virginia by President and CEO Gloria Bohan, Omega has grown into one of the largest travel agencies in the United States. The company has sales revenues in excess of $750 million annually and approximately 200 company-owned offices and 1,000 employees nationwide and abroad in Guam, the United Kingdom, and Okinawa, Japan.

Omega is a leader in on-line travel services and provides airfare, hotel, car rental, and cruise reservations through its 47 Web sites, including omegatravel.com, Cruise.com, AirDeals.com, TourDeals.com, and the latest Omega Web site Top9.com, a Web ranking and search directory.

For more information on Omega World Travel and the implementation of Worldspan’s new Trip Manager for Government, please call Goran Gligorovic, Vice President Sales and Client Services or Viola Thompson, Director of Government Services, at (703) 359-8866.