Newcomer ramps up net travel rivalry

By CHRIS DANIELS

The battle of the online travel booking websites has begun, with the arrival of global internet site Zuji in New Zealand.

Zuji - Mandarin for footprint - has been running for nearly a week but will launch its website with an advertising and marketing push next month.

Zuji is owned by 15 world airlines and the US company Sabre, which owns an airline global distribution system (GDS) and sells computing systems to airlines.

While not calling it a franchise, Local travel conglomerate Gullivers Pacific is running Zuji for the New Zealand market.

Gullivers, which includes the Holiday Shoppe and United Travel franchises, is planning a $100 million-plus float on the stock exchange.

Zuji is competing with an online booking site launched by the House of Travel chain of agents last month.

The new websites do not claim to provide the cheapest tickets, since they charge a margin on each one.

But they do claim travellers get the best deals - which could mean flying one segment of a trip on an airline that flies a particular route only a couple of times a week.

Zuji NZ acting manager Alex Snead said despite airlines owning the site, it gave no special priority to those carriers.

Only Freedom and Origin Pacific flights will be unavailable through the site.

House of Travel claims its site is better than Zuji, since it is backed by the House of Travel chain across New Zealand.

The House of Travel site also "scrapes" airline websites and merges the information from the global distribution system.

Airlines such as Freedom that do not use the GDS will feature on House of Travel but not Zuji.

But Zuji says the power of its global network allows for better international packages and deals along with its GDS-driven fares.

The House of Travel site is currently only able to book domestic, Tasman and Pacific Islands flights.

Tony Moffatt, commercial director of the House of Travel, said the company had been very happy with the success of its website. While not giving numbers, he said usage had "exceeded expectations".

Sites such as Zuji and House of Travel are expected to prove a boon for lesser-known airlines, particularly those flying the Tasman.

Zuji

House of Travel