For Immediate Release For further information, please contact:
Communications Department
InteleTravel.com 800.873.5353
Email: communications@InteleTravel.com
INDUSTRY VETERAN LEADS WOMEN TO INTELETRAVEL
(Delray Beach, Florida; October 26, 2006) Longtime host agency InteleTravel.com announced today the appointment of industry veteran Joan K. Duran (Dane) as Director of its new Women's Initiative, a program aimed at addressing the specific travel needs of women.
Duran is best known in the industry for her numerous elected positions with the American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA), including two terms as a member of ASTA's Board of Directors, President of ASTA Marketing Services, and President of ASTA's New York City chapter. She was also appointed chairperson for ASTA's 1994 World Travel Congress in Lisbon, Portugal, then ASTA's largest international conference ever, with over 6000 delegates in attendance.
Prior to that, Duran owned La Rochelle Travel in New York, a 10 million dollar agency she founded in 1977 to serve upscale corporate and leisure travelers. She sold the agency in 2000 to join the home-based revolution (a trend started at least in part by her new employer) as Unlimited Travel Solutions Inc. in Norwalk, CT.
In 2001, Travel Trade Magazine voted Duran "Travel Agent of the Year". She is married to Chris Dane, a former President of Hickory Travel Systems and executive for American Airlines, now President of the Affiliates Program for Hogg Robinson Group North America, and has two children.
For InteleTravel.com's Women's Initiative, Duran is responsible for attracting women to both the InteleTravel.com home-based Independent Travel Agent system, and to its retail travel sales efforts. She will lead the development of women-focused travel products, travel supplier relations, and marketing to national and international women's organizations.
Duran says, "There's another revolution brewing. Women are the fastest growing market in many sectors today, including travel. Women make 70% of all travel decisions regardless of who pays for the trip, and they comprise over 50% of the overall travel market. As business travelers, women are responsible for 58% of sales - a 5,000% increase since 1970(1). This is the perfect assignment for me, and I am excited to be pursuing it with an innovative and marketing-savvy partner like InteleTravel.com."
Joseph Traina, InteleTravel.com's chairman, adds, "We consider ourselves very fortunate. Who better to lead the way into this critical market than one of the most influential women in travel, Joan Duran?"
Established in 1999 as the online successor to the earlier InteleTravel International, one of the originators of the home-based travel agent concept (1994), InteleTravel.com has a worldwide network of thousands of full and part-time independent travel agents who refer families, friends, co-workers, etc., to its booking technology to purchase most major travel products. In return, agents earn up to 80% of the agency's commissions. Today, the concept has become a pillar of the travel industry, accounting for 7 billion dollars a year in travel sales, according to a 2006 Credit Suisse First Boston report. In addition to this new Women's Initiative, InteleTravel.com is planning a complete re-launch of its website, preferred supplier program, and other services for early 2007. The agency is endorsed by IATAN, and a member of CLIA, ARTA and OSSN.
1. From 2004 WOW! Quick Facts on Women and Diversity (sponsored in part by eWomenNetwork).