The OpenTravel Alliance Publishes Specification Version 2008A
	Featuring New Messages for the Tour Operator Market
The OpenTravel Alliance (OpenTravel), the travel industry's leading specification development organization, has published the 2008A version of its specification. It is the latest addition to the OpenTravel library of standard specifications adopted by travel companies worldwide. For the first time, OpenTravel has published messages that support tour operators, including the distribution functions of tour product search, availability and booking. 'OpenTravel has long been known for its messages that meet distribution needs of the core supplier segments of the travel industry,' said Valyn Perini, Executive Director of OpenTravel. 'Our messages for the airline, hotel, rental car and cruise segments are mature and in widespread use worldwide, with tens of millions of messages exchanged every day. It's time we brought our standards-building expertise to the tour operator segment, part of the 'Long Tail' of the travel industry due to its varied and complex travel products.' OpenTravel member companies PEAK 15 Systems and Adventure Central were leaders in this project. 'PEAK 15 Systems is proud to have taken a leadership role in establishing standards that will allow customers using our online tour operator software to more easily distribute their incredible collection of tours to partners and suppliers around the world,' said James O'Leonard, CEO of PEAK 15 Systems. Both PEAK 15 Systems and Adventure Central serve the burgeoning specialty market of adventure travel. 'The demand for adventure travel and tours is at an all-time high', said Dick Schulte, CEO of Adventure Central. 'Having these standards in place will make it much simpler and quicker to integrate such a fragmented market. Working with OpenTravel to establish these standards is a critical step towards accomplishing our goal to be the leading provider of distribution and online booking services for the adventure and experiential travel industry.' Upcoming OpenTravel Activities OpenTravel Executive Director Valyn Perini will moderate a panel at HITEC in Austin, Texas on Wednesday June 18, 2008 on the topic of 'Channel Management Technology.' OpenTravel Board of Directors Vice-Chair John Lambe will provide a keynote address at the next plenary meeting of the CEN/ISSS Workshop on Harmonization of Data Interchange in Tourism - WS/eTour on 24 June 2008 in Berlin. OpenTravel's annual Advisory Forum will be held April 20-22, 2009 at the Marriott Seattle Waterfront in Seattle, Washington. About the OpenTravel Alliance The OpenTravel Alliance is passionate about solving the problems inherent with connecting multiple systems within the complex travel distribution arena. OpenTravel's mission is to engineer specifications that make data transmission flow smoothly throughout travel, tourism and hospitality. OpenTravel creates, expands and drives adoption of open universal data specifications, including but not limited to the use of XML, for the electronic exchange of business information among all sectors of the travel industry. With a diversified membership representing influential names in all sectors of the travel industry, OpenTravel is comprised of representatives from airlines, car rental firms, hotels, cruise lines, leisure suppliers, service providers, tour operators, travel agencies, and trade associations. Thousands of message structures are in use, carrying tens of millions of messages between travel trading partners every day. For more information, visit www.opentravel.org. About PEAK 15 Systems PEAK 15 Systems is a San Diego based software company providing tour operators with integrated marketing, sales, trip planning, operations and accounting automation as an affordable and easy-to-implement hosted service. PEAK 15's Tour Operator Software Suite is heralded as an intuitive and comprehensive application that has proven its flexibility with inbound, outbound, custom, group, domestic and international tour operators. For more information, visit www.peak15systems.com. About Adventure Central Denver-based Adventure Central is an online adventure travel distribution company. Adventure Central connects the world to great adventures by automating the distribution of trip inventory from supplier partners such as A Day Away Kayak Tours and American Adventure Expeditions and bringing new cost and time efficiencies to the market. Adventure Central's private-label offerings distributed through AdventureCentral.com and leading third-party Internet partners like Orbitz (OWW) and CheapTickets give consumers access to one of the largest selection of adventure and experiential inventory at competitive rates available online. For more information on Adventure Central, call 303.292.5522 or visit www.adventurecentral.com.