Harry Dalgaard Elected as President of USACA
White Plains, NY, August 30, 2005 -- Harry Dalgaard, Executive Vice President of the Rail Europe Group which includes Destination Europe Resources/DER and Avanti Destinations, was elected president of the United States Air Consolidators Association (USACA) at a board meeting last month.
Succeeding Fernando Virgolino (VP/General Manager of Skylink Travel Group) as USACA president, Dalgaard has served as Executive Vice President of Air, Car, Hotels Marketing, responsible for DER and Avanti since 2003. DER has been in the consolidation business since 1970 and has contracts with 20 major carriers serving routes in Europe, Asia, Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, South Pacific and Indian subcontinent.
“With everyone thinking the only good deals in air are on the Internet, we'd like to remind travel agents about the advantages of using established air consolidators,” notes Dalgaard. “Not only do our contracts with airlines give us low fares, but we also sell airfare net - so agents can share cost savings with their clients and select the commission they earn. One of our goals this year is to let home-based agents in particular know what a valuable service we can provide.”
Dalgaard pointed out that to qualify for USACA membership, consolidators must sell at least $20 million annually in consolidated air and have provided uninterrupted service as a consolidator to travel agencies for at least two years. All current USACA members have a minimum of 10 years service each. The USACA members are: Brazilian Travel Service; C & H International; Centrav; DER; D-FW Tours; GTT Global; Picasso Travel; Premier Gateway; Sky Bird Travel; Skylink Travel; Solar Tours; and Trans Am Travel.
USACA's web site, www.usaca.com, launched earlier this year, provides information on each member, the advantages of using USACA members, and provides a helpful search tool to let agents locate members serving specific destinations or using specific carriers.
For more information, log onto www.usaca.com.Photos: members of the press may download high-res photos of Eurostar and other European trains at www.raileurope.com/presspix
