TripAtlas added a new tool which enables agents and tour operators to post adventure-oriented trips, supplier specials or alluring itineraries so they can market them to consumers.
TripAtlas, based in Toronto, is a lead-generation service for travel agents and a travel-content website for consumers. It has content partnerships with MSN, Yahoo and Sympatico.
One advantages of the new Custom Trips tab on the TripAtlas homepage is that consumers interested in the posted trip respond via email directly to the agent and, in that way, the agent who posted the excursion doesn't have to compete with other agents for the consumer lead, says Laura Monk, an account executive at TripAtlas.
Agents who pay a $35 monthly fee to TripAtlas, can use a Trip Publisher tool to post the trip they are promoting. It appears both on a Custom Trips page and on the agents' storefront like this one from Luxury Vacation Partners in Wayland, N.Y.
Agents who pay the $35 per month fee are called TripAtlas Pros. They can use a variety of the site's online tools and receive a daily email with consumer leads.
Although TripAtlas bills the Custom Trips tab as a promotional tool for "off-the-beaten path" vacations and "adventurous travel" some of the postings, such as Fairmont Orchid Bed and Breakfast and Mexican Riviera - 7 days, seemed fairly routine.
Still, agents can use the Trip Publisher tool to post photos and other trip details and then consumers contact the agent via an email form with their contact information.
TripAtlas is five years old and about 200-300 travel agents use the website daily, says Monk.