CANADIANS TRAVELING THROUGH EXIT.CA
By Adnews Staff
Exit.ca, a division of Montreal-based Transat A.T. Inc., is flying into the leisure travel industry. The travel e-commerce site made its debut earlier this week initially offering consumers access to a range of holiday packages from tour operators such as Signature, Conquest and Air Transat Holidays. The site plans on introducing charter flights in March and by the end of the year begin hotel and car rental services as well. The site debuts at a time when Canadian travel e-commerce services are growing in demand. U.S.-based Forrester Research recently reported that Canadians are expected to spend as much as $4.2 billion by 2004 to book leisure travel over the Internet. The branding for the site was created by MacLaren McCann Interactive and further developed by Cyberplex Inc. of Toronto. Exit.ca has also made some strategic partnerships. The travel site has joined the AIR MILES Reward Program and will reward consumers with 1 air mile for every $25 spent when they book their trips online. A PR campaign from Concepts Inc. Public Relations of Toronto will support the launching of the site throughout the month of February. A $1-2 million advertising campaign from Lowe RMP of Toronto will launch in a few weeks with print, radio and additional advertising plans promoting exit.ca. A French version of the free access site is scheduled to launch in mid-April.