Ski.com press room

Ski.com and Brazil’s Maktour Form Joint Venture,

Aligning the Largest Providers of Ski Vacations in North and South America

Aspen, Colo. – September 3, 2013 – Ski.com (www.ski.com) today announced a new joint venture with Maktour (www.ski.com.br and www.maktour.com.br), one of the largest travel companies in Brazil and the country’s leading seller of ski vacations. Through this new relationship, Maktour will integrate Ski.com’s proprietary booking engine into its travel websites and provide users access to Ski.com’s industry-leading inventory of hotels, condominiums, private homes, lift tickets, flights, ground transportation, rental equipment and more at 100-plus resorts in the United States, Canada, Europe and South America. Maktour’s 200 travel consultants based in Brazil and Argentina will also be able to offer their phone customers Ski.com’s full inventory of products and, when it’s time to book, they will use Ski.com’s proprietary reservations software to make the transaction.

Brazil continues to be a very important emerging market for most ski resort destinations worldwide and projections point to further growth. According to the June 2013 U.S. Travel Forecast published by the U.S. Department of Commerce, travel to the U.S. from Brazil is expected to grow 66 percent between 2013 and 2018. Brazil has also risen to 12th place in the ranking of international travel spending according to the ITB World Travel Trends Report (December 2012).

“We have been working on this relationship with Maktour for quite some time, and we’re extremely excited to share the news with our international community of suppliers and vendors,” said Harry Peisach, president and CEO of Ski.com. “Forming this joint venture with such a strong Brazilian travel company signifies our forward-thinking method of expanding Ski.com globally, and we look forward to growing this market significantly for each of our more than 100 ski resort destinations worldwide.”

“When it comes to inventory, technology and business savvy, Ski.com is well known as the leader in the ski travel industry,” said Marcus Di Tommaso, director of travel and tourism at Maktour. “Having access to Ski.com’s technologies will completely change how we do business in Brazil. In addition to adding online booking functionality to our websites, we are expanding our inventory of ski destinations worldwide, which our customers will surely find valuable.”

Maktour will also use Ski.com’s technology to service its extensive network of travel agent clients. Through systems Ski.com already uses on its travel agent website, www.sellskivacations.com, travel agents in Brazil will be able to research, book and confirm commissionable ski vacations online for their customers with Maktour.

About Ski.com
Headquartered in Aspen, Colo., Ski.com is the largest provider of mountain travel in North America and a leading developer of travel-related booking and reservations software. Ski.com is the only travel company specializing in mountain destinations to offer the unsurpassed first-hand knowledge and experience needed to present travelers the most options at the best value. The company has the largest mountain lodging inventory, offers the most ski-related package components in the travel industry and customizes complete vacations to 100 of the most popular resorts in the United States, Canada, Europe and South America.

About Maktour
Maktour is a Brazilian tour operator specializing in tailor-made vacations for groups and the individual traveler. For over 25 years Maktour has focused on offering unique experiences in destinations throughout the world. With 16 offices in Brazil and Argentina, the team of more than 200 dedicated travel consultants guide each client, creating and planning exclusive, tailor-made vacations for every taste and interest. Maktour is committed to offering a diversity of products through strong partnerships with suppliers worldwide: a philosophy which has turned Maktour into one of the largest tourism operators in Brazil. The company has an extensive product portfolio including skiing resorts, luxury cruises, resorts in Brazil among others.