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 09.02 '09 Brittany Ferries Brings Pharos On-board as Reservation System Partner 
Brittany Ferries travel trade clients can look forward to enhanced selling opportunities following a recent long term agreement between Pharos Datacom and
Brittany Ferries. Under the agreement Pharos will extend the scope and functionality of online access to the Brittany Ferries reservation system, providing simpler and more
versatile options for tour operators, online travel agencies, intermediaries and other resellers integrating ferry bookings into their own sales processes.
A Web Services XML interface will enable clients and their technology providers to integrate ferry bookings with the Brittany Ferries reservations system for their own Web based sales applications. The new interface complies with the international XML standard for ferry bookings created by the TTI (Travel Technology Initiative). Another stage of the agreement between the two companies is the enhancement of the traditional UNICORN service offered by Brittany Ferries, facilitating the use of IP connections in addition to the conventional X25 access. The options offered by the new channels will create more efficient and versatile booking services for Brittany Ferries travel trade partners, and lead ultimately to increased trade bookings and improved user satisfaction. "We have been implementing Web Services successfully for many years as a reliable and flexible basis for providing ferry bookings services for the travel trade. This was a major contributing factor to the confidence shown in us by Brittany Ferries in awarding this business critical service to Pharos", noted Alan Warburton, Managing Director, Pharos Datacom.Andy Richings, IT Manager at Brittany Ferries added : "This service will significantly improve our trade reservations efficiency and enable us to give a better service to our trade partners. We look forward to more efficient bookings and increased volumes particularly through Web Services integrated links to client systems. We have worked successfully with Pharos as a technology partner for over a decade."The work of the TTI standards organisation and its collaboration with its international, US based, counterpart, OpenTravel, is of critical importance to the global passenger ferry sector. General Manager of the TTI (Travel Technology Initiative), Mick Mott commented: "The ferry XML standard was developed as a collaborative project and we are delighted that it continues to be taken up by the industry. It once again demonstrates that competing organisations can cooperate together for a common goal."  back
 01.02 '09 Inghams Choose Pharos Platform for Ferry Holiday Online Bookings 
Using ready-made, tried and trusted components from the Pharos reservations platform, Inghams 'Just France', one of the longest established
specialist French operators, have launched a new online booking facility for ferry holidays in time for the post Christmas booking period. The new service, which enables
the online booking of ferry and accommodation packages, went live in December and provides an extra string to Inghams' competitive bow in a travel market which is being
rigourously challenged in this current recessionary climate.
The Just France brand specialises in holidays to France, offering inclusive air, rail and ferry packages, with a range of accommodation options in locations ranging from Brittany to Provence. The Pharos Xchange Reservations Service connects Inghams with its own network of suppliers, which include Condor, Brittany Ferries, P&O and Eurotunnel, for real-time ferry reservations. Accommodation options from 'Just France' free sell allocations can be added to the package to provide a complete ferry holiday which is bookable online. Webster, the Pharos white labelled Internet Booking Engine, which is a critical component of the solution, enabled Inghams to complete the entire integration work in only a few months, achieving huge cost savings and a quick time-to-market for its new online sales channel. "Inghams is a long term client of ours and has been using our reservation systems for ferry and flights continuously since 1995. Our aim is to provide an innovative service to our clients to enable them to respond quickly and cost effectively to difficult market conditions, such as those that tour operators and travel agents across the board are currently experiencing." back
30.01 '09 Pharos Reports Positive Trend in Ferry Sector Spending 
Pharos Datacom, the specialist in online reservations for the ferry sector, has released statistics on transaction volumes for its Xchange Reservations Service,
which indicate an upward trend for ferry bookings via trade channels. The Xchange Service, which handles millions of transactions for ferry operators and their trade partners
every year, is an ideal barometer of trade booking trends.
Xchange reservation statistics are monitored as travellers spend, in contrast to trends from industry publications, which show volumes at time of departure. This means we have an immediate indicator of how ferry passengers are spending, which is particularly relevant in todays economic climate. Following a short survey and monitoring of statistics during the last four months of 2008, volumes for a significant number of Pharos's Xchange ferry reservation users show the year on year trend as very positive. The results show an overall average increase of 32% in bookings compared to the same period in 2007. Furthermore, the increase in December alone was 30%, which is normally one of the weakest months of the passenger ferry calendar. Announcing these results, Alan Warburton commented: "The average booking value remained unchanged, confirming a very strong sector performance for our Xchange agents. The trend demonstrates the benefit of being online in the sector with an efficient booking service offering travellers choice and value."A large part of the increase was on short sea routes, indicating signs of a dramatic switch in spending by many during the quiet season outside of the holiday period, and in adverse economic conditions. "Our success underlines the Pharos results and reflects our own experience in our consumer, affiliate, club and other brands for reservations and breaks programs. This is an encouraging reversal of the general picture, showing the great value opportunities we can offer the traveller." back
30.10 '08 Red Funnel opens new sales channels with Pharos and Hogia 
Isle of Wight specialists, Red Funnel, are the first ferry operator to exploit the exciting new online trade sales channel resulting from a strategic agreement between itself and Pharos Datacom, who provide a trade distribution service for ferry operators, and Hogia, the Finnish based ferry reservations systems' provider.
The collaboration between Red Funnel, Pharos and Hogia will deliver a link from Red Funnel's reservations system, supplied by Hogia, to the Pharos Xchange trade hub, enabling strategic trade partners such as tour operators, online travel agents, clubs/ membership organisations and dynamic packaging operators to seamlessly interact with Red Funnel's reservations system. This new channel will complement Red Funnel's direct sales channel via its own Web site. The successful co-operation on this project between Pharos and Hogia, both long established providers in the ferry industry, on the development of a connection between the BOOKIT reservations system and the Pharos trade distribution service, also opens up new selling opportunities for other Hogia BOOKIT users. These users will now be able to take advantage of Pharos's versatile trade reservations service which currently facilitates ferry reservations between twenty five ferry operators and thirty resellers and intermediaries in Europe. Jonathan Green, sales and marketing director for Red Funnel, said: "We have successfully collaborated with Pharos over many years in the area of passenger reservations and are confident the Xchange solution will enable us to significantly increase sales through strategic trade partner channels'. Alan Warburton, managing director for Pharos Datacom, added: "This collaboration, which takes advantage of our core expertise, brings us closer to achieving more integrated trading links, to the benefit of both ferry operators and their resellers through increased sales and improved market position." back
01.09 '07 Passenger Shipping Association gets new Affiliate Member 
Recognising the invaluable services provided to shipping, for us in particular the passenger ferry sector, it makes sense for us to support this highly professional and respected international organisation.
We look forward to contributing to the PSA, working with members, ensuring we are up to date on developments affecting us, our travel industry associate organisations, our technology partners and our clients throughout Europe. back
15.08 '07 Thomas Cook takes advantage of Xchange 
Our client of many years, Thomas Cook UK, is to utilise Pharos' Xchange reservation service in their Globe project implementation to enable fully integrated, seamless reservations with trading partners.We are working together in a team with appointed solution provider BlueSky Travel Systems, already a technology partner of Pharos, to support the high degree of flexibility essential to online holiday distribution in the Globe project. back
10.04 '07 Pharos announces connections to new ferry operators As part of our program of continuous development to extend our ferry agent clients business, Pharos has completed integration in its Xchange service of three new ferry operators : Balearia, Corsica Sardinia Ferries and Grimaldi / GLD Lines. These routes are a substantial addition to the Xchange service, facilitating passenger reservations of these important western Mediterranean services. We predict a strong improvement in their bookings. back
20.03 '07 Norfolkline and Pharos to provide extended trade reservations 
Pharos has reached agreement with Norfolkline to provide an extended trade reservation service for their recently introduced Irish Sea operation. In addition, as part of the significant project to increase markets for the passenger ferry activities, Pharos will facilitate an international distribution network link. Pharos has already collaborated very successfully with Norfolkline to develop trade reservations on its short sea route Dover - Dunkirk. Significant increases in reservation volumes are anticipated.
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26.01 '07 VROOM VROOM at Le Mans 
Travel Destinations, the specialists in short breaks, classic marque and performance car events and tours, has reached agreement with Pharos to provide online package reservations. The well established player offers a high degree of uniqueness and personal attention to its customers and is expanding by adopting Ecommerce in a strategic move to develop business.
Embracing events for a number of prestigious marque clubs including MG, Porsche, Jaguar, TVR, Mercedes and Volksvagen, they organise tours for over 8000 classic car enthusiasts annually to various parts of Europe. They are the largest UK tour operator to the famous Le Mans 24hrs race (www.lemansrace.com) with over 2500 regulars enjoying the fun. Dynamic packaging of the components include ferry travel for multiple vehicles, Le Mans entrance and facilities, accommodation and other options. The reservations will utilise our Xchange Service. The Le Mans Race service will be trialled this summer for the June 2008 event, with other Travel Destinations' tours and events to be added later. Vroom vroom. back
18.12 '06 Holidaybreak Investment Pays Off 
A valued client of ours for ten years, Holidaybreak is a European specialist holiday group with market leading positions in the UK and other major European markets, with over 3m holidays sold last year.
The Camping Division, providing self-catering holidays on high quality European camp-sites, includes the very well known Eurocamp and Keycamp brands : This is the focus of considerable investment to progressively renew and consolidate the IT infrastructure in all brands and country operations, while significantly increasing online presence.
We have been working in partnership with the Holidaybreak Camping Division team and technical partner Web Applications for over a year to implement the first stage of the project, which began live operation recently and is proving to be very successful during current exceptionally high booking volumes . Our Xchange Service is used for ferry, Eurotunnel and secure payment transactions, ensuring that as the project progresses, their high rates of customer satisfaction and repeat bookings are maintained, underpinning the Division's business success. We're looking forward to the next ten years. back
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