Leading corporate travel management organization to provide
citywide housing assistance for meetings, conventions, large scale events
at popular Tennessee destination
Fairfax, Va., October 18, 2005 – Premier travel management provider
Omega World Travel is partnering with the Memphis Convention and Visitors
Bureau to offer meeting planners comprehensive housing assistance—an
online solution that can lead to a cost effective, successful group travel
experience—for large-scale conventions, shows, and sporting events.
“In an effort to add to the growing success of meetings, conventions,
and trade shows held in Memphis, we are expanding our capabilities and
collaborating with one of the premier housing bureaus, Omega World Travel’s
Mega Housing Management,” said John Oros, Executive Vice President
and COO of the Memphis CVB. The Memphis CVB markets the city and Shelby
County as a convention site, with over 330,000 delegates in 2003 spending
about $310 million locally.
“The added strengths of Omega World Travel’s industry experience
and progressive technology will help us create new business opportunities
and expand on our success in luring visitors to Memphis,” explained
Oros.
Omega World Travel is the only national travel company operating its own
housing bureau, Mega Housing Management (MHM); a centralized Web-based
housing accommodations solution, as well as program and logistics management
support from travel industry veterans experienced in large-scale citywide
events.
“Mega Housing Management’s unique combination of a housing
bureau and full-service travel agency offers a level of service and range
of program options unmatched by our competition,” said Diane Bozicevich,
Vice President of MHM. “Our housing solution sets itself apart from
a typical travel agency’s program in a number of ways: complete
program management; Web-based, real-time accommodation reservations, live
inventory management, and a single information source for all participants.”
From the blues to barbecue, Memphis has always been a popular tourist
mecca—more than nine million visitors a year—and is now becoming
known as a meetings destination. The city on the banks of the Mississippi
River has been named “one of the top ten emerging convention destinations
of the new millennium,” by trade publication Successful Meetings.
“Businesses and organizations are recognizing why Memphis is a great
destination for their meetings,” said Oros. “Our new alliance
with Omega World Travel adds important value-added services, like on-site
logistics management, pre- and post- tour development and promotion, and
U.S. and European call centers to our increasingly first-class convention
support program.”
About Omega World Travel
Fairfax, Va.-based Omega World Travel (www.owt.net) is ranked by Business
Travel News as the third largest travel management organization in the
U.S., and provides online travel solutions, as well as personalized service
at 200 locations worldwide, to a diverse clientele: from individual leisure
travelers to Fortune 500 companies and the federal government. From humble
beginnings as a small business launched in 1972, Omega World Travel now
boasts annual sales revenues in excess of $1 billion, over 1000 employees,
and is the largest travel agency owned by a woman—President and
CEO Gloria Bohan. Omega World Travel owns TravTech (www.travtech.com),
a travel technology organization, and Cruise.com, the Internet’s
largest cruise specialist.
About Mega Housing Management (MHM)
With a well-earned reputation for managing large-scale groups and events,
MHM (www.megahousing) is a division
of Omega World Travel and specializes in citywide housing programs. Featuring
proprietary Web-based meetings management software, along with an experienced
team of travel industry veterans, MHM offers group housing, registration,
and travel solutions for the meetings and convention industry. MHM is
located at Omega World Travel's Midwest regional headquarters in Greenfield,
Wisconsin.
About the Memphis CVB
The Memphis Convention & Visitors Bureau (www.memphistravel.com) is
a private, non-profit subscriber corporation responsible for marketing
Memphis and Shelby County as a convention site and visitor destination.
Its purpose is to bring visitor dollars to the local community for both
the short and the long term. Visitors to West Tennessee have an estimated
impact of $2.3 billion annually, generating more than $166 million in
local and state taxes, and providing 51,000 jobs with an estimated $1.6
billion payroll. |