Expedia TAAP is ending 2011 on a high in ANZ with the “Best week ever” since the launch of the program in March 2010. Bucking the usual seasonality trend for this time of year, bookings to the USA jumped from 20% of the program to almost 30% in the last week and EMEA saw a rise of about 5% over previous weeks. Asia and Oceania bookings are steady but have dropped in proportion to the USA spike. Top 10 out of over 100 destinations booked last week in order: LAX, SYD, LON, MEL, HKG, SIN, KUL, BNE, HNL, NYC.

“The seasonality split is what we would expect to see in June or July” said Stuart Udy Expedia Manager Travel Agent Distribution Asia Pacific. “Obviously Travel Agents are taking advantage of Early Bird Airline deals and booking their customers accommodation at advance purchase prices. Agent acquisition has also been strong with an average of 20 agents per week signing up and we have struck some strong preferred sales agreements this year.”

Expedia TAAP has rolled out 5 additional markets throughout 2011 including Singapore, Japan, Malaysia, Sweden and Denmark. A new administration portal, Expedia Access rolled out through all TAAP markets in 2011, streamlining agent commission reports and commission reconciliation. Plans for 2012 include new forms of payment for TAAP agency transactions.