Tourco - 2001 update

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE TOURISM NEWS

Contact: Michael Patrick Destinations & Communications
Glenn M. Faria or William P. DeSousa
Phone 508-790-0566 Fax 508-790-0565
e-mail: info@mpdcltd.com

Hyannis, Cape Cod, MA March 2001—From TOURCO headquarters on Cape Cod to
its new offices in Europe, the company’s definitely on the move. Acquisitions, new overseas offices, new hires and promotions, innovative new products, new product brochures are becoming almost commonplace at this dynamic and growing company. There’s a lot of ‘news’ at TOURCO.
To company President Jerry DiPietro, record-breaking growth, evolving the company
and bringing new and innovative products to market are what make him tick. “TOURCO is committed to growing existing markets and expanding into new markets ripe for our products and in which there is presently unmet demand,” said a beaming DiPietro one recent sunny Cape Cod morning. “We are also committed to growing our staff’s capabilities and to offering employees professional training and growth opportunities,” he continued.
TOURCO, which celebrated its 20th anniversary last year, has pioneered in providing travel product to meet the demands of an increasingly sophisticated European market. Last year, the company acquired several new domestic products and, through these new products, broke into selling directly to consumers in the United States for the first time. This year portends being a banner year at TOURCO and some of the reasons for that anticipated growth follow.

TOURCO, Inc. of Hyannis, MA, the east coast’s premier inbound specialist, recently
acquired Tour Connections of America, a Washington, D.C.-based receptive wholesaler which is strongly focused on group business inbound from France. Concurrent with this acquisition, TOURCO also acquired a marketing office based in Metz, in eastern France and incorporated in that country as TOURCO Europe. This office is ideally located for TOURCO Europe to avail itself of opportunities in the contiguous European nations. The newly-organized company defined its mission as further cultivating existing group business while developing incremental group and new FIT business both in France and throughout the European Community nations.

TOURCO, Inc. recently opened two European offices. Its new office in Amsterdam
will be headed by Jennie Ferguson, Director of FIT Sales Europe. Ferguson’s territory includes Netherlands, Belgium, France, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Italy and Scandinavia (including Iceland).
In a related development, and as part of the acquisition of Tour Connections of
America (TCA), TOURCO acquired TCA’s existing office in Metz in eastern France. The Metz office, headed by Fabien Max, Director of Sales—Group Travel, is strategically located for serving Germany, Switzerland and other European Union nations and will support the newly-acquired TCA’s US-based tour operations.

Stephen Knight, TOURCO’s FIT director, was promoted to the position of Senior
Director of Worldwide FIT & Group Divisions. Knight brings decades of experience in both group travel and FIT to his new position and will be responsible for worldwide sales. Knight joined the company in 1998 as Director FIT Division.

TOURCO recently acquired Cape Cod Golf Holiday and significantly enhanced the
product. This newly upgraded product will offer consumers packaged Cape Cod golfing holidays comprising a variety of lodging options of various standards, greens and cart fees and pre-booked tee times. Golf will be offered at courses Cape-wide, including Dennis Highlands (Dennis), The Captain’s (Port) Golf Course (Brewster) and Quashnet Valley Country Club (Mashpee). With this new product, golfers and their families can combine their love of the sport with one of the greatest holiday destinations in the United States. TOURCO recently appointed Liz Eagan to oversee this product. Eagan can be reached at liz@tourco.com.

TOURCO will feature its new and greatly expanded Country Inns, Resorts and Historic Hotels this year. The product will include Destinnations New England and will also feature a dramatically expended array of character properties throughout New England, the mid-Atlantic and southern states and eastern Canada. The product includes such venerable properties as: New England’s Deerfield Inn (Deerfield, MA), The Belfry Inne (Cape Cod, MA), The Colonial Inn of Edgartown (Martha’s Vineyard) and Trapp Family Lodge (Stowe, VT); the mid-Atlantic’s Historic Strasbourg Inn (Amish Country, PA), Planter’s Inn (Savannah, GA) and Oak Alley Plantation (Vacherie, LA); southern properties such as Dunleith Plantation (Natchez, MS) and Old Capital Inn (Jackson, MS) and eastern Canadian properties including The Algonquin (New Brunswick) and L’Auberge du Lac St. Pierre (Pont’du’Lac, Lake Ste. Perry and St. Lawrence River).

Considering that 2001 is a mere two months old, in reviewing its unprecedented growth year-to-date, TOURCO has a lot to smile about. In 2000, TOURCO launched a new interactive website, www.tourco.com, wherein its tour operators could book in ‘real time.’ During the final quarter of 2000, TOURCO’s growth and percentage of marketshare increased ahead of all previous quarters. Internet bookings for January 2001 were $300,000—a dramatic increase over January 2000. Its FIT bookings for January 2001 were up 29% over January 2000. TOURCO also reports a 22% increase in group bookings year-to-date over 2000. These increases are in line with January’s Kiplinger’s Newsletter’s 2001 outlook, in which it forecasted that “...travel and entertainment would hold up well as consumers put disposable income into buying time and leisure rather than hard goods.” These increases bode well for TOURCO’s 2001 business growth expectations.

In 2000, TOURCO acquired Destinnations New England, an upscale consortium of New England’s finest country inns, hotels and resorts. Concurrent with that acquisition, TOURCO also inaugurated a strategic marketing alliance with Yankee Publishing, namely Yankee Magazine Vacations. To provide consumers and the travel trade the full spectrum of lodging experiences, TOURCO will offer, using these products and its existing client properties, both tailor-made holidays in addition to its pre-planned excursions and departures.
With these strategic maneuvers, the company is extremely well positioned to avail itself and capitalize upon the burgeoning growth in demand for independent and flexible vacation packages exhibited by baby boomers, Gen-xers and -Yers. As part of its long term strategic planning, TOURCO is focusing on the enormous potential for flexible independent FIT packages which its geographically diverse products offer.

TOURCO will partner with New England’s international destination marketing
organization, Discover New England, for travel agent trainings to be conducted in the UK during See America Week, the week of June 25th. See America Week, sponsored by TIA, will comprise a series of planned media and trade events. On June 27th, various destinations will make presentations to attending travel agents and tour operators. TOURCO and Discover New England will make a joint See America educational seminar featuring New England.

---

Michael Patrick Destinations & Communications

396 Main Street, Suite 3, Hyannis, Cape Cod Massachusetts 02601

508-790-0566/Fax 508-790-0565

e-mail: info@mpdcltd.com