LA JOLLA, Calif. – May 16, 2000 – GeoPassage.com, the emerging leader in custom-designed travel, and Active.com, the largest and most comprehensive Internet site for participatory sports, today announced a strategic partnership to provide sports enthusiasts customized, web-based destination travel packages for high-profile international marathons. Through the partnership, marathon participants can access event and host city information, online event registration, airfare, accommodations and sightseeing trips – all from their computer keyboard.
Designed to meet sports participants’ unique event and travel needs, the partnership will leverage GeoPassage.com’s rich destination and thematic expertise and Active.com’s comprehensive database of sports events and online registration capabilities.
Interested participants can now go to the Active.com web site (www.active.com) or the GeoPassage.com web site (www.geopassage.com) to browse and register for exciting sports vacation packages to international destinations. Participants can either choose a pre-packaged itinerary designed by travel and sports experts, or create their own package using GeoPassage.com’s patent-pending customization technology.
GeoPassage.com can automatically generate and recommend tours, perfectly optimized to specific personal profiles, in just minutes. If participants need assistance or prefer to custom-design their tour offline, GeoPassage.com also offers an experienced and knowledgeable Travel Consultant™ team that provides a wealth of destination expertise, assistance and customer care.
Through Active.com’s extensive database of online sports events and its online registration technology, participants can search and register for specific international marathons online, within minutes, and receive instant confirmation.
“Our partnership with GeoPassage allows us to provide a benefits-rich package for marathoners worldwide," said Dave Alberga, president and chief executive officer, Active.com. “Runners not only have the convenience of online registration for an international race, but through GeoPassage’s travel expertise, they can access travel information about their destination city and book high-quality, customized travel packages."
The companies are developing international marathon packages to the Ferrari Italian Marathon (Capri, Italy on October 15, 2000); Chinese International Marathon (Beijing, China on October 15, 2000); Cozumel Marathon (Cozumel, Mexico on November 12, 2000); and the Hamilton International Marathon (Hamilton, New Zealand on January 28, 2001). Travel packages will include tour arrangements, accommodations, transportation, event registration, extension packages and special offerings targeted to sports enthusiasts such as spa visits the day after a marathon and in-room bottled water. Future packages will be expanded to include a range of sports events in exotic locales.
“We are very excited about the potential of packaging unique travel experiences around premier international sports events with race registrations handled by Active.com," said Arti Srivastava, chief executive officer and founder, GeoPassage.com. “As the most trusted source for participatory sports services on the web, Active.com appeals to the discerning sports enthusiast and is therefore a natural fit for GeoPassage.com."
About Active.com
Active.com is the largest and most comprehensive Internet site for participatory sports, providing athletes, event and tournament directors, league administrators and sports participants worldwide a range of Web-based resources and services. The La Jolla-based company was started by athletes in search of a better way to handle the search and registration process for participating in sporting events. Active.com features the world’s largest online database of participatory sports events in more than 60 sports, providing access to more than 150 million recreational athletes. Services include online event search and registration; event management resources; league administrator tools to manage players, rosters, divisions and referees; participatory sports calendars; community features; training tools; and more. For additional information on Active.com and its services, visit www.active.com.
About GeoPassage.com
Based in Austin, Texas, GeoPassage.com is the first online travel company to offer custom-designed vacations to the discerning traveler. GeoPassage.com offers unprecedented control, convenience, and e-commerce capability to the entire customer experience, allowing customers to plan, create and purchase their entire vacation online in minutes based on their personal profile. Offering only the ultimate in safety, style and comfort, GeoPassage.com seeks to empower people to experience the world – on their own terms, at their own pace, creating their own path.