ACCOR SETS SAIL WITH CONTIKI ON YOUTH RESORTS NETWORK

Great Keppel Island to be first Contiki Resort in Australia

Australia's largest hotel operators, Accor Asia Pacific, and youth travel group Contiki are joining forces to launch a network of Contiki Accor Youth Resorts. The joint venture between the two tourism leaders is aimed at establishing youth resorts in Australia initially, with the potential to expand to Asia and the rest of the world later.

A joint venture was announced today by Accor and by global travel specialists, Travel Corporation plc, owners of Contiki, to develop resorts under the Contiki brand, with resort operations expertise provided by Accor and entertainment managed by Contiki. The resorts will be aimed at 18 - 35 year olds, and will build on Contiki's reputation as the leading travel operator for the youth market. Contiki has been operating for 40 years globally and has a well-established reputation in the Australian market, for both inbound and outbound travel.

The first Contiki Resort to be launched by the joint-venture will be Great Keppel Island, off the north Queensland coast. Accor was appointed managers of the resort earlier this year, and is currently supervising a major upgrade of the resort's facilities. The island resort will be officially relaunched as Contiki Resort Great Keppel Island in April 2002.

Great Keppel Island - which built its reputation on the 'Get Wrecked' campaign in the 1970s and 1980s - is one of Australia's best known and most attractive islands.

Located off Rockhampton, the resort currently boasts 28kms of sandy beaches, five pools, two spas, a wide range of restaurants, bars and entertainment facilities, and a choice of 40 free leisure activities from archery to cat sailing, and golf to surf skiing.

Facilities will be added specifically appeal to the youth target market. These include a state of the art disco, 'chill out' lounge, internet café, woodfire pizza restaurant, and a micro-market. All 181 rooms on the island are currently being fully refurbished and will be offered as singles, doubles and triples, with rates starting from $85 per person (triple share) per night inclusive of breakfast and dinner. The resort will be managed under existing arrangements till the relaunch in April 2002.

A major innovation for the marketing of the island resort will be the use of charter aircraft provided by Qantas as the hotel's major market source. The packages will be sold almost exclusively through the travel industry, with the aim of having regular charters throughout the year from key Australian destinations.

Commenting on the agreement, Accor managing director (Australia/New Zealand, South Pacific and Japan), Michael Issenberg, said: "The venture will utilise the main strengths of both organisations - Contiki's reputation in the youth market and Accor's renown as the world's leading hotel operator.

"Accor is already well-established in resort management, and with such a wide range of hotel brands and styles, we have proven our ability to adapt to the needs of differing markets.

"We will ensure one of the most professionally operated resorts, while Contiki will play an integral role in providing the appropriate ambience and style to satisfy the youth target market. We believe it will be a highly successful partnership."

The Chairman of Accor Asia Pacific, David Baffsky, added: "This is a very innovative concept and aims at a market that has largely been untapped by the international hotel sector. Great Keppel will be the prototype for assessing the potential of a larger network of youth resorts."

In addition, he said, the youth market was less sensitive to the issues which have seen more traditional areas of tourism suffer such a significant downturn in recent weeks.

Contiki Holidays Australia managing director Peter Smith said that Great Keppel Island was the perfect resort to launch the concept in Australia. "Contiki has developed a concept that will appeal to 18-35 travellers and will be the most unique resort island in Australia," Mr Smith said. "Add to that the natural beauty of Great Keppel Island, facilities designed specifically for the Contiki market, completely refurbished accommodation and very competitive rates - and we believe we have a winning combination.

"Great Keppel in the past has proven its popularity with the youth market, but we believe we can build on this, utilising Accor's experience in operating all levels of hotels and resorts.

"The potential for the market is enormous. Every year, tens of thousands of Australians join Contiki holidays in Australia and abroad, while globally we cater for 90,000 holiday-makers annually. Initially, our main target market for Great Keppel will be the local Australian and New Zealand markets, but we believe it is likely to become just as popular with international tourists who want the best of Australian resort vacations with a youth orientation."

Accor is the worldwide leader in travel, tourism and corporate services, employing 145,000 employees in 140 countries, with two major international activities:

* hotels: 3,600 hotels (400,000 rooms) in 90 countries (including over 100 hotels and resorts in Australia and New Zealand under the brands Sofitel, Novotel, Mercure, All Seasons, Ibis and Formule 1) as well as travel agencies, restaurants and casinos; * services to corporate clients and public institutions: each day, 12 million people in 31 countries use a broad range of services (Food Vouchers, People's Care, Expenses Management, Social Services, Incentive / Events) engineered and managed by Accor.